


All Our Little Dreams

by lovelivesinthedream



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Action, Comedy, M/M, MAMA!AU, Mates, Pining, Romance, Wolf!AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-05-08
Updated: 2014-05-08
Packaged: 2018-01-24 00:48:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 21,982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1585562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lovelivesinthedream/pseuds/lovelivesinthedream
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kris didn't even have a choice. From the first moment he heard Chanyeol's heartbeat, they'd been mated. Their fates were never theirs to decide.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. One

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This is my first EXO story, so please let me know what you think. It'll combine Mama era and Wolf/Growl era aspects. Krisyeol will be the main pairing but there will be other side pairings as well.

Their family had passed on the stories as far back as anyone could remember. Legends of powerful wolves mated to equally strong partners, leading the pack safely through times of hardship and danger. Long before they learned to shift from their human skin into their fur, their young minds were filled with fairytales of soul-mates and heroes. Their family had been living peacefully for so many years, hundreds in fact, that the stories became myths, and facts became fiction.

*****

Kris first heard his mate's heartbeat when he was four years old.

He'd been running through the woods on all four legs, tongue lolling out of his mouth lazily as he chased Luhan and Yixing between the maze of trees. The air tasted sharp and sweet; the cool autumn wind ruffled his dark fur and bathed him in the comforting scents of the forest.

He could hear the faint sounds of Yunho bickering with Changmin back at the house. His mother humming a familiar lullaby to Jongdae, his baby brother, as she laid him down for a nap in the nursery on the second floor, and his grandparents cooking dinner together in the kitchen with Jinki, Amber and Henry. He could hear the slight crunch of leaves from up ahead because Yixing still hadn't quite mastered how to move with stealth. Luhan yipped playfully from further away, scaring a couple of squirrels up into their hideout in the hollow of a large maple.

Those noises were normal, expected.

Even the clang of the rickety green jeep driving up the dirt road to the house was familiar.

However, the delicate, barely there thump of a third heartbeat in the vehicle was not.

Nor was the way that Kris' own heart shuddered in his chest, causing him to stumble and skid face first into a pile of musky leaves.

"Ah, gross," he huffed, spluttering to get the taste of dirt out of his mouth. The fall had surprised him back into his human form, and the cool air was suddenly a lot less comforting than it had been moments before as he shivered. Sticks, pine needles and fallen pine cones cut into his bare legs and his palms; he brushed them away with barely a thought.

He could hear Yixing crashing towards him through the underbrush minutes before the other’s russet head came into view, eyes clearly laughing at Kris' clumsiness. Luhan managed to sneak up behind him and push him face first into the dirt again.

Kris growled and shifted back, the change coming almost effortlessly to him. He lowered his head and gave Luhan only a five second head start before rushing after.

By the time they got back to the house, laughing and filthy, Kris had forgotten all about his strange reaction to the new heartbeat he'd heard. As they got closer, he stopped at the edge of the trees and gave a quiet bark to get Luhan and Yixing’s attention. Sitting on the front porch were his parents and their friends, Mr. and Mrs. Park. Kris lifted his snout to gesture to them before circling around and darting to the tree were they kept extra clothes for situations like these.

He shifted back, standing on two feet as he dressed as fast as his four year old coordination would allow. Beside him his pack mates did the same until the three of them looked like ordinary young boys that had been playing in the woods instead of wolf-children.

“Do you hear that?” Yixing asked while Kris helped him over a fallen log.

Luhan nodded, scowling to himself as he had to use Kris’ arm to cross the same log.

Kris, the tallest of the three, easily stepped over and quirked his head to the side in an attempt to pin point the noise. He paused mid-step and frowned. It was that unfamilar heartbeat again, but something was strange. It made the fine hairs stand up on the back of his neck. “What’s wrong with it? It’s too fast to be a normal.”

“Maybe it’s an alien!” Luhan looked hopeful.

Kris rolled his eyes at his hyung.

Yixing ran ahead of them, covering the yard and the steps of the porch to barrel into the woman’s legs. He hugged them tightly with his little arms. The woman smiled down at him fondly. “We have good news to share with you guys.” The man beside her beamed at his wife and rested a hand over her abdomen.

“We’re going to have a baby!”

Yixing stared thoughtfully for a moment. “Is it going to be a baby alien?”

Changmin and Yunho appeared in the doorway to the house, chuckling to themselves as they leaned together. Mrs. Park ignored them, used to the teenagers’ antics by now, and patted Yixing on the head gently. “Why’d you say that, silly?”

“Luhan-hyung says it sounds like an alien!”

Kris secretly agreed. He had a bad feeling about the baby’s heartbeat; it was beating three times faster than Mr. and Mrs. Park’s hearts. The noise pounded in his head like a drum, drowning out other sounds to the point that it was all he could hear. He tried to push the thud out of his thoughts and accidentally made himself cross-eyed. Changmin snorted even louder in amusement. 

Mr. Park raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean? You can’t hear-”

“Kids these days! They sure do say the oddest things,” Kris’ dad interrupted swiftly with a forced laugh. Over Mr. Park’s shoulder he gave Kris a look.

The Parks had been friends with Kris’ family since his parents were kids. Outside of the pack, they were the closest people Kris knew. But no matter how close they were, they weren’t pack and so they could never find out about his family’s biggest secret. He nodded to his father in understanding because even at the age of four, he knew that their wolf nature must stay hidden even if he wished it didn't have to be.

“Luhan-hyung was just kidding with Yiyi earlier, trying to scare him by talking about space monsters and stuff.” He elbowed Luhan discreetly in the side. “Right, hyung?”

Luhan smiled sweetly towards the adults. Kris released a sigh of relief when the Parks seemed to accept the explanation, but his relief was cut short by the dark scowl Luhan sent him a moment later. That look never meant anything good.

“Well you don’t need to worry because there are no such things as monsters, Yixing.” Mrs. Park kneeled down so she was more level with the three young boys. “We’re having a normal baby. No claws, fangs or things like that; those things don’t exist. He’s going to be a completely ordinary little boy just like you guys. Treat him well, okay?”

Kris forced his lips into a smile, the tiny, rapid heartbeat echoing in his ears impossibly loudly. His chest ached uncomfortably when he heard her tone of voice while speaking about those things. She made it sound as if a child being born with claws would be a terrible thing. Did that mean she would think they were horrible if she knew their other skin was covered in fur? He didn't want to think about how much the Parks would hate his family if they knew the truth.

“We will,” the three boys promised. Luhan clapped his hands excitedly. "We'll be the best hyungs ever!"

 

*****

When Kris first held the newborn baby, Park Chanyeol, six and a half months later, he immediately regretted ever making that promise.


	2. Two

“And this is our little Chanyeol. Isn’t he cute?” Mrs. Park held the baby proudly in her arms for everyone to see.

Kris’ mother shifted Jongdae to her other hip and brushed her hand over the newborn’s soft brown hair. “He’s adorable.”

“He looks like a wrinkly old man,” Luhan whispered to Kris. Yixing nodded along with his lips pushed out in a pout and his arms crossed over his chest.

As the months had passed and Mrs. Park’s baby bump had grown rounder, Yixing had been convinced she was going to lay an egg that would eventually hatch into a giant baby duck. No matter how much Kris had tried to explain that his mom had looked the same way before Jongdae was born and Jongdae definitely wasn’t a duckling, Yixing hadn’t listened--probably because Luhan had been telling him stories again. He had been very disappointed when it was just a baby human.

“Aw look at that. I think he wants you to hold him, Kris.” Mr. Park gently pushed him toward the baby who seemed to be staring at Kris.

He had no desire to hold the kid. Even after being bathed it smelled like an unpleasant mixture of poop, baby formula and powder. There was drool coming out of its mouth and it was wiggling around with too much energy like a worm. Kris would have been more than content to never touch Park Chanyeol.

He didn’t want to be rude though; the Parks had always been nice to him and it would have been unnecessarily offensive to say he thought their baby was gross. Kris tried not to look like he hated everything as Mrs. Park lowered her baby into his arms. Amber and Henry often told him that his eyebrows made him look grumpy, so he’d been trying to practice in the mirror to make his face happier. Hopefully, he’d been successful.

Large brown eyes stared up at him from a perfectly round head. The kid didn’t even blink as he stared at Kris. He tried to lift his lips into a small smile since all the adults were watching. The newborn’s cheeks puffed up when he smiled back, too wide and too big for such a tiny person. One eye shrunk smaller than the other and it was kind of funny looking, but he managed to not laugh at the baby. Kris hesitantly held out a finger and the baby wrapped his hand around it.

It was a little bit cute, but Kris wouldn’t admit that to anyone—

“Ouch!” he shouted as pain shot through his arm. Standing on his tiptoes so he could reach over the crib, he hastily lowered the baby and backed away.

Only a few seconds passed, a whole minute at most, but it felt like an eternity. The baby was screaming from the crib where Kris had unceremoniously dropped him. It was an ear shattering screech that made every wolf in the house cringe back. Even the Parks, with their far less developed hearing abilities, looked pained at the noise. Mrs. Park tried to soothe him while Kris stepped away.

Kris stared down in shock. His dark eyes narrowed angrily, his tiny fists clenched so tightly that his elongating nails began to dig into his palms. He could feel the shift coming on. Normally it was so easy to control, and yet at that moment it was taking everything he had in him to keep his bones in place and the growl in his throat.

There were so many things distracting him. The scent of fear rolled off his parents in waves. They were afraid that he’d reveal himself in front of their friends; he felt his skin tightening uncomfortably at the thought. The Parks were his parents' only friends other than the adults in the pack. Luhan and Yixing hid behind Changmin’s legs. Yunho was saying something, probably trying to calm Kris down, but the sound was muffled.

The only things he could hear clearly were the too fast heartbeat and the razor sharp cry from the baby. The more animalistic part of his mind demanded that he change and guard the newborn. He felt an irrepressible need to fix whatever was wrong so the little child wouldn’t cry anymore. Kris gritted his teeth, hissing as protruding canines bit into his bottom lip. He closed his eyes and tried to even his breathing in order to clear his mind.

“Kris. Calm down, sweetie,” his mother’s voice shook as she called out to him. “Please, please calm down.”

He just needed to focus and he’d be fine. Kris inhaled deeply and quickly began coughing.

The stench of burning flesh made his stomach coil. 

"What's wrong? What is it?" Kris' father grabbed his hand to look. He watched as his father's concerned face turned into one of surprise and incomprehension. "I don't understand..."

He glanced down at his arm and hissed in pain, remembering why he’d put the baby down in the first place. There was a small scorch mark on the thin flesh on the inside of his left wrist. He stared at it in confusion when the wound didn’t fade away. As a wolf-child, it took a lot to injure him and his body mended itself almost immediately when he did manage to get himself hurt.

A few moments later the mark had healed, no longer hurting at all, but the scar stayed no matter how long he stared at it.

His eyes quickly landed on the infant’s arm. The crying baby was flailing around annoyingly, so Kris carefully held him still so he could see. His brow furrowed in confusion.

There was an identical mark, the outline of a perfect circle, scarred onto the baby’s left wrist. Kris held his wrist beside the baby’s and both marks glowed bright blue for a split second. The baby instantly stopped crying and yawned tiredly, a too wide smile on his face as if he hadn’t been killing everyone’s eardrums only moments before. His big brown eyes never left Kris’ face.

His ears rang in the sudden silence of the room. Glancing up, he was met by the horrified faces of Mr. and Mrs. Park.

He began backing away, terrified of the disgust he could see in their eyes and smell on their skin. “I-I’m sorry! I didn’t mea-”

“What are you?” Mr. Park hissed. “What did you do?”

Kris’ father stepped forward, shielding the rest of them from the Parks. “Alright, just calm down. What’re you saying right now, Chanhyun-ah? We’re all friends here.”

Mrs. Park picked up the baby and glared around the room. She held him close to her chest as if someone was going to try to steal him away.

The newborn whimpered at being moved when it had just fallen asleep, and Kris couldn’t stop the growl that ripped from his throat. The wolf part of him fought its way to the surface before he could stop it. His bones moved quickly and painlessly, his skin stretching and changing along with his nails and teeth. In mere seconds he stood on four paws with his hackles raised in warning and his eyes narrowed. He stalked forward, needing to make sure Park Chanyeol was safe above all else, and he didn’t even know why.

“Wolves.” Mr. Park said it like it was a swear word. Like they were the filthiest and most vile creatures to ever dare to exist.

“You don’t understand! We’re still the same people you’ve always known. We’re still your friends,” Kris’ mother pleaded as she reached out.

“Your kind can never be our friends.” Mrs. Park pulled away and his mother’s hand fell back to her side. Mrs. Park's eyes blazed with hatred as she gathered up the baby’s bag that they’d brought over with her free hand and walked to the door closely followed by Mr. Park. “You are monsters. All of you.” She glared down at Kris, still crouched as a wolf in front of his pack. “Don’t come near my family ever again.”

The Parks left the house. The door slammed behind them with a finality that rung through the whole room. Yixing began sniffling, burrowing himself into Luhan’s outstretched arms. Yunho took Jongdae so that Kris’ mother could go into the other room with his father. They tried to hide it, but he could see the sadness in their eyes and he hated himself. It was his fault.

Changmin whispered to Yunho near the windows, but whispering was pointless in a house of wolves. "How did they know what we were?"

"What do you mean? Kris shifted right in front of them." Yunho frowned and picked up the rattle Jongdae had dropped. Changmin shook his head.

"No, that's not what I'm saying. Mr. Park automatically suspected that we were something different, something inhuman," he continued quietly. He leaned closer, determination set into his jaw. "He knew before Kris changed completely. Most people would have tried to explain away Kris' ears turning furry as a trick of the light or something, right? Only someone that knows about people like us would jump to that sort of conclusion so quickly."

Yunho sighed heavily and closed his eyes. "What's your point, Minnie?"

"I think the Parks aren't as average as they had us believing all these years. That's all."

Kris climbed up onto the couch between Luhan and Yixing. Luhan pulled his front paws onto his lap and scratched behind Kris' ears. He was too ashamed to change back and he knew his hyung understood. Yixing climbed over his back and curled up beside him, playing with the longer dark fur of his tail. "It'll be okay, Kris hyung. Don't worry."

He could hear his parents speaking from the other room no matter how much he wished he couldn’t. They'd have to talk to Yunho's parents, Changmin's mom, Luhan's parents, Yixing's parents, Henry's uncle, and Amber and Jinki's grandparents. They'd need to hold a pack meeting with everyone which hadn't happened in a very long time. They would need to speak of finding a new home somewhere safer, someplace where their secret hadn’t been exposed. They'd need to talk about leaving the only home that the pack had ever known.

Unable to listen any longer, he jumped down from the couch and ran through the door flap, out to the woods where he howled his frustrations to the lonely night.

Kris never wanted to see the brat that had ruined everything ever again. He hated that baby for causing him to lose control.

At least that’s what he tried to tell himself, but he fell asleep under a large tree thinking about mismatched eyes and too wide smiles.

For the next eighteen years Kris would only see those things in his dreams.


	3. Three

In the days that followed, they tried to act like they weren’t upset, like it wasn’t Kris’ fault. Nobody outright blamed him or anything. Nobody spoke the words out loud. But Kris could feel their anger and worry, and he knew that it was because of him.

He could feel the way the adults in the pack tensed when he walked into a room, could feel their eyes watching him more closely than ever before. They looked at him like he was someone different. Like he was a stranger that they needed to observe to gauge how much of a threat he was. He pretended that he didn’t know, but deep down Kris wanted to cry. He was only four years old and all the adults that he knew were acting like he was a ticking time bomb.

He could smell the sharp tang of unhappiness that permeated the air around Jinki and Amber. They’d just started high school and now they’d been forced to transfer to a brand new place where they wouldn’t know anyone except each other. When Kris asked them to play hide-and-seek like they normally did, they smiled sadly and said they had homework to finish. He heard the uptick of their heartbeats and knew they were lying, but he’d simply nodded and wandered off by himself.

Yunho and Changmin--only slightly older than Amber and Jinki--had always relied on each other more than anyone else so they didn’t seem too worried about having to make new friends; however, they were very vocal about their displeasure about leaving the woods so far behind.

Because they were moving to the city were all the wide open spaces and comforting canopy of trees would be nothing more than a distant memory, a longed for dream: wolves weren’t meant for captivity.

Just the thought of it made Kris’ skin itch uncomfortably.

The only people that didn’t appear to be fazed at all were Luhan, Yixing and Henry.

When Kris’ mom had told them, the four had gone directly to the fort they'd made in the woods. Yixing had stared wide-eyed into space, hands clasped in front of him like an overexcited kid straight out of a cheesy movie. “We’ll get to ride on subways, and throw coins at people walking by on the streets, and live in a building so tall that we can touch clouds and dragons, a-and--”

“What have you been telling him now?” Kris questioned his hyung. Luhan smiled like the sweet little angel they both knew he wasn’t.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Kris rolled his eyes, making a mental note to never allow Luhan and Yixing to wander around the city alone. Yixing would probably end up sold off to a circus while Luhan cackled over his payment of video games and candy.

“At least we’ll all be together,” Henry chimed in. He sat beside Luhan on an overturned log and began poking at the leaves with a stick. “My uncle said that all the adults are putting their money together to buy an old apartment building. That way everyone in the pack can live in the same building but our families will still be able to have separate homes.”

Kris felt himself relax a tiny bit. Having everyone together--being around pack members-- was a necessity. They weren’t solitary creatures even if he, personally, felt like kicking most of them in the shin and running out to the woods to be alone at some point or another. It was going to be hard enough to not have the forest to run in where they could shift to their wolf forms and be free. Knowing that they’d all be together still was at least a small comfort.

***** 

Three weeks later and everyone had gathered up everything they owned and moved to their new home in a city 200 miles away.

During that time before the move, Kris had woken up from dreams on more than one occasion with his wrist tingling and the circular scar glowing a faint blue. He wanted to ask about it so badly, but his parents were always busy with working, planning, packing, and taking care of Jongdae. There was one time, only a small moment, when his father had been helping him put his toys in a cardboard moving box, and he’d stared at Kris for a second too long. He opened his mouth to say something, and Kris had just known that his dad was finally going to bring up the topic that nobody would discuss, but then his mother started singing to Jongdae from the nursery beside Kris’ room and his dad’s face had closed down.

A million questions plagued him daily:

Why was Park Chanyeol’s heartbeat different? What was the mark on his wrist? Why did the baby have one too? Why did it glow? Why did he feel the need to protect the baby so much?

Why? Why was this happening to Kris?

Eventually, as he had to get used to going to kindergarten, being around strangers everyday, and breathing in the chokingly thick city air, Kris began to forget all about it. There wasn't enough room in his thoughts for questions without answers and a smile he'd only seen once.

As days became weeks, and weeks became months, Kris’ dreams became vaguer, blurring and dimming until he only saw darkness when he slept. The scar on his wrist was no longer glowing when he woke up. His ears stopped listening so intently for a too fast heartbeat amongst the hundreds of people he passed every day.

Months became years, and with each new year Kris grew and met more people.

He became even taller which irritated Luhan to no end. Luhan hated having to look up to Kris and took his revenge for this imagined slight by remaining Kris’ best friend. (‘That doesn’t even make any sense,’ Kris had replied when Luhan explained his evil plan like any good villain does, apparently. Luhan had waved his hand and continued plotting reading from his book. ‘Friends close, enemies closer. Duh.’) Kris looked after Yixing who was always more trusting than he should have been, naïve to a fault. He practiced basketball with Yunho and Changmin since they were the only two tall enough to put up a challenge. Amber was always his partner in doubles because she was feistier than Jinki, faster than Henry, and her aim was perfect. Jongdae grew quickly, always the annoying younger brother trying to prank everyone, and yet so damn cute that nobody could ever stay mad.

When he was sixteen, he brought his first girlfriend back to the apartment building to introduce to the pack. He hadn’t really been interested in her, but she was pretty and sweet, and he was a sixteen year old boy. His mother had smiled kindly, but sometimes throughout that visit she would look at him with such sad eyes that he’d felt his throat start to choke up with tears. He hated to see that look on his mother's face.

When he was sixteen and a half, he brought his first boyfriend back to the apartment building to meet the pack. Everyone had been very nice; Jongdae even behaved himself and didn’t glue anyone’s hand to their cup with superglue, but Kris could sense an overwhelming uneasiness from all the adults. They looked at him with pity in their eyes and he couldn’t understand why.

After his boyfriend left, he’d met his dad in the living room of his home. He sat beside him on the couch for a minute in silence before building up the courage to speak. He stared at his hands, his voice soft but steady. “Is it because he’s a guy?”

“What?” his father had asked, jumping slightly at the noise that had interrupted the quiet. He put down the newspaper and turned toward his son. Kris watched as realization dawned on his dad’s face. “You think that we--No! No, no, Kris,” he reached out and laid his hand over Kris’ elbow, “you should know by now that your mother and I love you no matter what. All we want is for you to be happy.” His dad’s eyes looked just as sad as his mom’s had nearly six months earlier when he’d brought the girl over.

His father’s heartbeat remained completely steady though. If it wasn’t a lie, then why did they seem so unsettled with whom he was dating?

“Then what is it? Why do you guys seem so sad whenever I bring someone to meet you? Do they seem like bad people?” He blinked back frustrated tears. He hadn’t cried in as long as he could remember and he wasn’t about to start. “S-Should I just stop trying to find happiness?”

His dad pulled him into a hug, wrapping his arms tightly around Kris’ shoulders like he used to do when Kris was smaller. He’d been too tall for hugs since he was twelve, and it was nice to feel like a kid again despite the awkardness.

“All we want is for you to be happy,” his father repeated. He patted Kris on the back and stood from the couch, turning to hide himself wiping a tear from his eye. “If you’re interested in someone, you should always feel welcome to have them meet us. If you like them and they treat you right, then they are good enough for us.”

Kris nodded. He felt an immense weight lifted from his shoulders. Although, when he thought about it, it wasn’t that he dated them because he was particularly interested, but more that he’d been bored and lonely and they’d seemed okay to get to know. But still, it was nice to know that he had the support of his pack.

He was lost in his thoughts when his dad gazed back from the doorway of the room and whispered, “My only regret is that you’ll never find your happiness here.”

***** 

More years passed and Kris graduated high school and began college. He started working part-time in the movie theater that his family opened up down the street. The whole pack had used their savings to renovate the dilapidated old building at the end of the block into a small movie theater. The adults mostly stuck to the management things and left Kris, Luhan and Yixing to work the counter and ticket booth in alternating shifts with Henry, Jinki and Amber. He really liked his job most of the time, especially when Changmin was sick and he got to fill in as the film operator. The only thing he hated was cleanup duty.

***** 

By the age of twenty-two, Kris was in his senior year of college, still worked at the movie theater, and was perfectly content.

By the age of twenty-two, Kris had forgotten about Park Chanyeol completely. The mark on his wrist had become just another part of his body. He was so used to seeing it that he didn’t even notice it anymore.

At the age of twenty-two, Kris was reminded.


	4. Four

“So are we just going to ignore the kid that’s been following you around all day like a lost kitten or…?”

Kris scowled as he adjusted the strap of his bag over his shoulder. “Leave it, Luhan.”

“Fine, fine. Whatever you say. But,” Luhan paused, his tone dropping to a conspiratorial whisper, “but he’s kind of hot. Like really hot. Smoooooking hot.”

He stopped abruptly, causing Luhan to run into him and drop the book he’d been carrying. “Oh my god! Why don’t you just go hump his leg like the irritating dog you are? I don’t want to hear about it anymore!”

Kris froze as soon as the words left his mouth, shocked and confused. He couldn’t believe that he’d just said that; he certainly hadn’t meant to. He couldn’t remember ever saying anything that harsh in his life. Despite his angry features, he was generally an easy tempered person. He hadn’t been feeling like himself since the start of the school year, but that was no excuse to be an ass.

Luhan’s face fell, the playful smile instantly slipping into a small frown before it morphed into a blank mask.

Kris needed to fix the situation and quickly because once Luhan was well and truly pissed that meant misery for everyone. He needed to be honest and confess the reason he’d been acting differently lately. He bent down to pick up the book his friend had dropped and barely glanced at the old, faded leather cover as he held it out like a peace offering.

“Look, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap like that. It’s just…”

Luhan crossed his arms and waited for a long a moment until Kris finally gave up and continued. He looked around to make sure the kid wasn’t within earshot. The tall, blonde haired boy quickly glanced away and pretended to be interested in the bulletin board at the library entrance. The sunlight bounced off the gold piercings in his ears making Kris avert his eyes so he didn’t go blind. In that moment Kris decided that as soon as he’d smoothed things over with Luhan they were going to have to talk to the kid and see what he wanted once and for all.

First things first. He leaned closer to Luhan and tried to convey the seriousness of his next words with his expression.

“I’ve been feeling really strange since school started two weeks ago. I-I feel like I could shift at any moment all the time, like my fur is stabbing shards of glass at my skin just under the surface. It’s never been so hard to control… And there are these weird dreams—NOT THOSE KIND, LUHAN!—that are mostly dark and blurry, but sometimes I can see a baby smiling really widely like a dork that turns into a guy with mismatched eyes, and it’s so ridiculous but I wake up smiling to myself!”

Luhan hummed to himself, suddenly looking a lot more pensive than upset. He tilted his head in thought and tapped the leather book against his chin. “Is there anything else? Other than the shifting issue, are you in pain? Do you have any odd wolf-ish urges?”

“What the hell are wolf-ish urge--” The memory of one of the more detailed Teen Wolf fanfics Amber made him read vividly popped into his mind. Nope. He definitely hadn’t had the urge to do those kinds of things with anyone, ever, and he did not want to hear Luhan explain wolf copulation practices. “Actually, wait. No. I don’t want to know, so please forget that I asked.”

Luhan smirked before turning serious again. “As funny as it is that your mind went in that direction of all places, I actually meant something else entirely. Do you ever feel like you need to hunt down a fluffy animal to brutally tear to pieces? Or do you feel the need to boss anyone around more than usual? Claim things as your own?”

“No?” Kris couldn’t help but phrase it as a question because he really didn’t understand what Luhan was saying. Those things were ridiculous. Just because they could change into predators didn’t mean that they had some primitive need to hunt. If he was hungry, he could always shift back and get a meal from his refrigerator or a restaurant. He’d choose his mom’s cooking over raw meat any day.

Although, there was one thing…

“It feels like something is missing. I don’t know how to explain it well,” he admitted when he saw his friend’s confused face. “Since school began there are fleeting moments when I think I can smell something, taste it in the air, and it instantly makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up and my heart race, but in a good way.” He ducked his head, embarrassed by his own weirdness. “It’s gone as soon as it’s there and then my wrist itches and I feel like the shift is going to come no matter how hard I try to stop it, like I need to find where the scent comes from.”

By the end of Kris’ explanation, as lame as it was, Luhan had the book clenched in a white-knuckled grip.

“What is it? Are you feeling okay?”

Luhan nodded distractedly, already thumbing through yellowed pages with nimble fingers.

“Really? We were having a serious conversation and now you ignore me for recreational reading?” Kris huffed in annoyance. He knew Luhan was difficult, but he’d honestly confessed things that he’d been keeping to himself for weeks, and he was aggravated that his friend couldn’t even be bothered to respond. “Fine. I have things to do anyway. See you later, Luhan.”

Slumping down to the grass and sitting crossed legged, Luhan waved half-heartedly, still buried intently in the book.

Well then. Kris took a deep breath and reminded himself that his hyung was always like that, and Kris was obligated to love him no matter what, even if sometimes his annoying habits outweighed the good ones.

He decided to forget about the whole conversation for now since there was nothing he could do about it and telling Luhan hadn’t helped him at all.

An amused smirk tugged at his lips as he watched the tall blonde try to act like he didn’t know Kris was walking toward him. The kid was still pseudo-reading the fliers on the bulletin board. Kris stopped beside him and glanced at the board for a moment, trying to think of the best way to begin what he wanted to say. It wasn’t like the kid was bothering him all that much; he just sort of trailed after Kris around campus from a distance. They had one class together: the art elective that Kris was required to take for course credit so he could graduate at the end of the year. Unfortunately, most students took the class in their first year of college and since he’d put it off for four years, he was noticeably one of the only seniors in attendance.

He’d let the kid borrow a pencil on the first day and ever since then a blonde head of hair, only slightly shorter than Kris himself, could be spotted ten steps behind him through the halls and over the sidewalks.

It was both flattering and creepy which was why Kris needed to find out what the guy wanted.

He cleared his throat softly and kept his eyes trained on the fliers in front of him, vaguely taking note of a missing persons notice about a boy from a town a two hour drive away. Stuffing his hands into his pockets, he tried to appear casual. “What’s your name?”

The kid was quiet for a second, fiddling with the gold rings on his long fingers. “Tao. Huang Zitao.”

“Tao. Cool.” Kris nodded. “So, Tao, why are you stalking me around the school? If you’re trying to ask me out, it’d be better to do so straightforwardly.”

Tao wrinkled his noise and laughed and laughed until there were tears in his eyes. Kris frowned.

“I only mean that I know I’m a good looking guy and it might be intimidating, but you are also handsome and should have confidence in yourself because following me around isn’t really--”

“I think you’re confident enough for the both of us,” Tao giggled out from behind his hand. “After all, you’re Mr. Picasso, right?” That sent the kid into a whole new round of laughter.

Kris was getting fed up. He hated being laughed at and he was easily angered these days. He clenched his fists and ground his teeth together, so he wouldn’t say something horrible like he had to Luhan; although, this brat probably deserved it.

“If you don’t want to ask me out, then what are you doing? You’re having an awfully good time for someone that has been stalking me like a creep.”

“I-I wasn’t--”

“Yah! He’s taken so I’d appreciate it if you stopped hitting on my boyfriend now,” a shorter guy with light brown hair and expertly applied eyeliner stepped between the two and put his arm around the blonde’s waist. Kris blinked back in shock.

What the hell?

“First, I wasn’t hitting on anyone. I was only drawing conclusions based on the facts I had. And second, who the hell are you?”

The guy stood up straighter and stared Kris defiantly in the eye. “Byun Baekhyun. Tao’s boyfriend.”

“Seriously, I said you were wrong! I’m not interested; I just wanted to know why he’s been following me everywhere. If I’d known lending him that stupid pencil would lead to this, I never would have done it!”

Tao was blushing furiously, and a look of realization dawned on Baekhyun’s face.

“Pencil? Oh! You’re Picasso!”

Kris groaned. How was this his life? He longed for the silence of the woods more fiercely than he had in a long time.

Luckily for Kris, the conversation went much more smoothly after that. Tao explained that he hadn’t meant to be creepy or give off the wrong impression, but he’d just moved to the city at the beginning of the school year and the only people he knew were Baekhyun and Baekhyun’s friends. Kris had seemed really nice that first day, especially to a guy that was normally very shy, and Tao had hoped to become friends but he wasn’t sure how to go about doing it.

Kris was flattered, but he did point out that, “For future reference, you should start by introducing yourself instead of stalking.”

After that day, Tao and Baekhyun—mostly Tao—began to hangout with Luhan and Kris during the school day whenever they had free time. Luhan started even more obsessively reading over ancient books from the pack’s collective library. Whenever Kris asked about them, Luhan would shush him and disappear into another room. They ate lunch together at the student center and most days Yixing would stop by from the university a few blocks away to join them. The four of them—five whenever Baekhyun wasn’t busy with his other friends—began to do things together after school and on weekends. It was a first for the wolf-kids; their kind could function perfectly fine among everyone else, but they were never particularly close to them. Kris couldn’t remember ever having as much fun with people that weren’t pack. Jongdae and Tao met at the movie theater once and spent four hours playing the Mortal Combat arcade game, and as Kris watched from his spot at the candy counter, he couldn’t help but smile and felt like he’d gained a new brother.

He still felt strange, and he could smell that scent that drove his nerves into a chaotic jumble more and more often. Whenever Baekhyun showed up right after seeing his friends the air would reek of the scent for a whole minute. He could never sit on the same side of the booth as the blonde after Tao came from Baekhyun’s apartment because the scent would literally have his skin shivering with the shift bubbling to the surface.

Kris was curious, but he didn’t know a subtle way to investigate.

He struggled with the secrecy at times. Of course, he knew why their true nature had to remain hidden (sometimes he thought he had a vague memory of something terrible happening when someone found out, but it was so foggy that he thought it must have been a dream). Kris knew that it was dangerous if people found out because humans often felt threatened by things that they didn’t understand, but it felt wrong to keep such a huge secret from someone he was beginning to consider as close as family.

*****

Three months after they’d finally become friends, the four of them were walking back to the movie theater after catching a late dinner at the noodle shop a five minute walk away. The night air was cool and smelt of grease and food, and Kris wasn’t completely shocked to see Luhan and Yixing holding hands from a few steps ahead of himself and Tao.

“Isn’t that kind of… weird?” Tao asked nodding toward the two with his nose scrunched up.

“Why would it be?” Kris asked curiously. “You’re dating a guy.”

“Oh! No, that’s not what I meant!” Tao waved his hands in a placating gesture. “It’s just… aren’t you all related?”

Luhan and Yixing quickly stepped away from each other as if burned. He could tell they were doing their best not to act like they’d heard although their heightened senses had most definitely let them eavesdrop.

Kris couldn’t help the relieved laugh that escaped him. Tao watched him wearily as if afraid that Kris had lost his mind. Now that he thought about it, of course it would seem like they were family. They all lived in the same building and had grown up together as far as Tao knew, so it was no wonder he’d gotten the wrong impression.

“I didn’t realize it would look that way to people,” Kris explained as he calmed down. “We’re as close as brothers—all of our families have been together for a really long time—but we’re not actually related by blood. Our families share the same…uh, beliefs, you could say. Amber and Jinki are my biological cousins, and obviously, Jongdae is my brother, but other than that we’re all just very close friends. Like a…” he paused and closely watched Tao’s face to see if he’d notice the words meant more than they seemed, “we’re like a pack.”

Tao nodded excitedly. “I know what you mean; that’s exactly the way I’d describe Baek’s friends!”

That sounded interesting. Kris wanted to know more about these friends that he’d heard bits and pieces about.

Neither of them were paying attention to their surroundings, and they should have been. Kris was about to ask more, finally seeing his chance to learn information about the people Baekhyun and Tao saw on a regular basis that made them smell the way they did, when a loud screeching noise pierced the peaceful night.

He looked up just in time to see the headlights careening toward them, the image burned into his eyes even when he closed them. In the next second, Tao was bleeding out on the ground. Luhan was shouting at Yixing to be careful as they dragged their friend’s broken body out of the road. Once they were out of the street the car sped off. Frozen in place, Kris stared down at his crimson stained hands, unable to control the way they violently trembled.

Luhan was on his knees beating against Tao’s chest. His voice was a vicious growl as he performed CPR. “If you don’t wake up right now, I swear to god I will kill you, Huang Zitao! Don’t think that I won’t!”

“Please. Please. Please. Please,” Yixing was mumbling pleadingly, holding Tao’s limp hand tightly.

They’d never seen so much red before. Everyone they knew healed almost instantly. The sight of the blonde’s injuries and the metallic scent of blood in the air made Kris feel lightheaded. A cold sweat broke out across his forehead.

Kris felt wetness on his cheeks. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d cried, but the tears were falling silently down his face. Luhan was becoming more desperate as the seconds ticked by and Tao remained motionless. He wiped his sweaty face with the back of his hand and left a streak of blood across his pale skin.

Kris’ stomach heaved and he puked up his dinner right there on the sidewalk. In the distance he could hear voices of people blocks away going about their lives as if something devastating wasn’t happening. He wanted to scream out for help but knew instinctively that nobody was close enough to make it in time.

Yixing grabbed Luhan’s arms and held him still. “It’s not helping, hyung. You tried, but it’s t-too late.”

“No! It’s not too late!” Luhan turned toward Kris with a manic expression. His wide eyes were fierce as he shook Kris’ shoulders roughly. “Bite him! All you need to do is bite him!”

“What? Hyung, that’s not going to fix anything.” Kris tried to push Luhan back gently but his hands were slapped away.

“Jesus, Kris, just trust me this one time. I know I joke around a lot, but I’m being completely serious right now.” His eyelashes were spiked with tears and his nose was red from crying. Kris felt more helpless than he ever had in his life. “Please do this for me.”

He didn’t understand why his hyung would ask him to do something like that. Tao’s breathing was dangerously shallow and his heartbeat had slowed to a sluggish thump. It was obvious that he was quickly running out of time, and Kris—well, he couldn’t let him die without trying. He didn’t know why Luhan was so adamant about this, but if he thought it would help, then it was the least Kris could do.

He carefully shifted only his teeth, allowing the canines to elongate to sharp points that cut into his lips. He was petrified and confused, but when he hesitantly picked up Tao’s right arm raised it to his mouth, Luhan nodded in encouragement.

Not knowing what else to do, Kris closed his eyes and sunk his teeth into the flesh of his new friend.

*****

Two weeks later and Kris was going crazy.

Tao had so many questions, and Kris could understand that, but it annoyed him that he didn’t have any answers to give.

After he had bit Tao, his wounds had slowly stopped bleeding and began to close.

It was amazing. It was a miracle.

Kris had no idea what the hell he’d done.

Between the three of them, Luhan, Yixing and Kris had managed to carry Tao to the movie theater and sneak him in the back entrance. Nobody knew what to do exactly, and though it was unspoken, all three of them agreed they couldn’t go to their parents with what they’d done.

For that whole night they watched over Tao’s unconscious body in the stockroom. At the time Kris had asked Luhan why he specifically had to bite Tao, but his hyung had silenced him with a pointed look and made it clear that he wouldn’t discuss anything until Tao was okay again.

Over the days that followed they made sure that at least one of them was with the younger boy at all times. He hadn’t woken up at that point, but his wounds had healed and after they washed him up it looked like he was simply sleeping. The convulsions started soon after that. It began as small tremors and turned into full body spasms. Right before their eyes Tao’s skin receded and shrank until there was a large black wolf where he’d been laying. They were speechless with surprise. As far as Kris knew, wolf-people were born, not created. Nobody he knew had ever turned a person with a bite before.

“That’s because only the bite of an alpha will work,” Luhan had explained like it should have been obvious.

Kris scowled. “We don’t have an alpha.”

“We didn’t have an alpha because our pack hasn’t needed one for generations. Don’t you remember the stories?”

Kris shook his head no. Yixing’s face lit up with excitement as he rubbed wolf Tao’s belly. “Alphas lead the pack in times of danger. We only have one when it’s needed, when there’s a threat.” He tilted his head and pouted. “But those are just tales.”

“Apparently, they aren’t.” Luhan pulled a fragile looking book out of his back pocket. “These books aren’t filled with legends and myths, guys. Those bedtime stories our parents used to tell us were real. Those things are our history that people took the time to write down by hand so that we’d know, but everyone forgot anyway.”

Kris dragged his hand through his hair roughly. He had the suspicion that he was not going to like where the conversation was headed.

“What are you saying?”

Luhan took a deep breath and barely hid his own excitement. “You are our pack’s alpha, Kris.”

Needless to say, Kris hadn’t believed his hyung. For their whole lives Luhan had been telling them lies and trying to trick them. It was much easier to think that it was only another prank that he was trying to pull than the alternative. Because there was absolutely no way that Kris could be the alpha. That was just ridiculous.

Wasn’t it?

Tao had woken up the next day and was perfectly healthy after eating the largest meal Kris had ever seen one person consume. They’d sat him down and tried to explain what had happened in a way that wouldn’t shock him, but during the middle of the conversation his ears had shifted and a fluffy black tail had sprouted out, and from there things had devolved quickly.

Only after Yixing and Kris had shifted too did Tao calm down enough to listen to Luhan’s explanation. He thanked them repeatedly for saving his life, but it was clear that he didn’t know what to think about being able to turn into an animal. It was a lot to take in.

He hadn’t known how to control the shift, so they couldn’t let him go back to his dorm room or attend classes. Unfortunately, Henry had walked into the storeroom one day when they were in the middle of practicing changing specific parts of the body instead of everything at once, and he’d ran off and told Jinki and Amber before Kris could stop him. Minutes after that and Yunho and Changmin also were told and all of them had gathered into the small storeroom to glare daggers at Kris and talk to Tao.

The only good thing that came out of that day had been gaining more people to help Tao learn to control himself. Yunho had taken a lot of convincing so he didn’t immediately go to their parents, but as soon as Luhan told him that Kris had changed Tao by biting him, he’d agreed that they should keep it quiet for the time being.

Every day Tao had asked if he could leave yet, or if he could have Baekhyun visit him at the movie theater even though they’d been texting each other and calling one another.

If anything, those questions bothered Kris more than the ones regarding how he’d been able to save Tao at all because they made him feel guilty. Tao was now Kris’ responsibility and because Kris had burdened Tao with their secret he wasn’t able to live his life the way he had before. Maybe it would have been better if he hadn’t done anything at all. At least then Tao wouldn’t have to hide away in a small room in a movie theater.

Kris was trying to shake those dark thoughts, reminding himself that Tao was happy to be alive even if he was different than he had been before, as he filled a customer’s order of popcorn.

The door opened off to the left and Kris was hit with a wave of that scent that made him tremble. He quickly looked up, completely ignoring his customer as a tall guy with long, denim clad legs, a loose fitting black t-shirt and dark hair pushed off his forehead walked up to the counter. He felt the air whoosh out of his lungs and his pulse race. An unsteady tempo of a heartbeat that was too fast boomed through Kris’ ears.

He slowly dragged his eyes up the person, terrified of what he’d see and the way he’d react to it. The guy’s face was familiar in a way that Kris couldn’t describe. Large dark eyes were narrowed angrily, smooth cheeks tapered down to frowning pink lips. The air around the stranger made Kris’ palms sweat and his mouth run dry.

“Are you Kris?” an unexpectedly deep voice rumbled from the tall guy.

As soon as the words left the stranger’s lips, Kris felt a sharp, hot pain in his wrist. He didn’t have time to look because his nails were turning into claws behind the counter. Struggling as hard as he could to stay human until he was out of view, he accidentally jerked his arms and the bucket of extra buttery popcorn went flying.

The last thing he saw before he ran from the room as fast as he could was the tall guy glaring hatefully while brushing popcorn from his hair.

As soon as the door to the break room slammed shut behind him, he doubled over and felt his bones shifting. Once the transformation was complete, he scratched at the door with his paws. The only thing he was aware of was the need to get out to the candy counter. He dug at the door until his paws ached, and he only stopped when Luhan entered the room a moment later.

“So I was right about that too,” his hyung said softly as he stroked back Kris’ ears. He sounded sad. Kris whined and tilted his head to ask what Luhan was talking about. “You’re the alpha, Kris, and in all the books alphas had mates.”

The word caused Kris to pause. Images that he’d long forgotten began assaulting him.

Playing in the woods when a green jeep drove up to the house. A third heartbeat that was too fast. Mr. and Mrs. Park. A baby that smiled too big for such a tiny face. A glowing blue circle on their wrists.

Park Chanyeol.

Mate.

He backed away from his hyung, tripping over his paws in the process, and crashing into the vending machine. Luhan reached out to him and he growled in warning.

“Okay, okay. I’ll leave you alone for now.” Luhan stood and dusted off his pants. “I know it isn’t ideal, but you can’t fight this, Kris. You need him.”

When Luhan left, Kris sank to the floor and shifted back. He shivered in the air-conditioned room and wrapped his arms around his unclothed skin. He wasn’t sure how but everything was Park Chanyeol’s fault, and Kris didn’t want anything to do with him.


	5. Five

“Do you want anything else?” the impatient bartender huffed for the third time. Kris paused in the middle of doodling in the condensation left on the smooth surface under his glass and glared. The bartender put his hands up in a placating gesture and moved on to the other patrons.

There was a subtle shift in the humid air as the door swung open across the room.

From the scent alone Kris knew who it was without even having to think about it. All his senses were hyper charged, even more sensitive than usual, but it went beyond his normal wolf senses to a whole new level. If he focused, he could vaguely feel all of his packmates. When he closed his eyes and cleared his mind of all other thoughts, he could almost see them, distorted shadows in the familiar shapes of the people he was closest to all laid out on a map in his head. Luhan, Lay, and Tao were the clearest, most corporal by far; three shadows all at the movie theater still. The shadows were a bunch of different colors—bright yellow for Yixing, cotton candy blue for Luhan, and dark purple for Tao—but as his father entered the bar, there was a deep blue shadow moving toward him.

Kris’ muscles tensed painfully under his button down shirt. It was the only acknowledgement he’d let show when his father settled onto the barstool beside him. He stared resolutely at the ice melting into his drink for a long moment while the silence stretched between them. In his periphery vision his father’s face was set with a deep frown and guilty eyes. His dad’s voice was quiet when he spoke. “You know alcohol doesn’t do anything for people like us.”

Kris ignored him. Of course, he knew that a wolf-child needed wolfsbane laced alcohol in order to get drunk but getting wasted hadn’t been his intention in the first place. He’d just needed a place away from everyone else so he could think. The glass began to splinter in his hand from his tight grip so he hastily set it down.

“Did you know?”

“Know what?” His dad avoided his eyes, darting glances everywhere but at him, chuckling nervously. “What are you talking about right now, Kris?”

It hit Kris like a slap in the face as he stared at his father’s shifty expression.

His parents had always known. All the adults in the pack had known since the very first time that Kris met Ch—that brat. There’s no way that they’d have mistaken what happened that day as anything other than what it was, after all. They would have recognized the glowing blue marks and what they meant. The people that had raised him for his whole life had known from the very beginning that he was destined for this disaster and they’d all hid it from him.

He remembered being four years old, feeling guilty for being the cause of everyone uprooting their lives to move to the city, and the way the adults had avoided him as if scared. As if Kris was dangerous. Was this the real reason for it? Because they’d known he was the alpha and had been afraid of what he’d do? What he’d make them do?

The icy tendrils of realization began creeping up his spine. Of course, it all made sense. They had been terrified of the power he’d have over them; in all the stories it was clear that wolves must obey direct orders from their alpha. That was the whole point of there being an alpha: a strong leader to keep the rest of the pack safe through whatever means necessary. No wonder everyone had kept him in the dark for all this time.

Kris took a deep breath and tried to calm down before speaking.

“I bit Tao. He got hit by a car and there was blood everywhere. We panicked and I bit him.” He stared down dejectedly. “He’s turned.”

He waited anxiously for the explosion that he was sure was to come but he was greeted with only silence. He looked at his dad questioningly and he father simply shrugged. “What can I say? You saved his life from the sounds of it; it’s lucky that you were there since you’re the only one of us that would have been able to do so. Is that why you three have been picking up extra shifts at the theater?”

“Yeah… he’s in the stockroom for now.” Kris nodded, still not comprehending that his dad wasn’t angry. “He’s got a pretty good grasp on controlling the shift—he’s practiced wushu since he was young so that probably helps. We’ve all been helping him learn.”

“It’s good that you took charge the way you did. That’s exactly the kind of behavior an alpha should have.” His dad looked so proud and Kris felt his anger rising.

“Is there a way to break the bond? A way to refuse to be the alpha?”

A sound that Kris had never heard his father make escaped his dad’s mouth before the man clamped his jaw shut with a resounding clack of teeth. It was a painfully sad, lonely howl. The other patrons barely spared them a look, probably thinking they were drunken fools messing around. Kris’ eyes were as wide as saucers even as he fought against his wolfish awful, overwhelming need to comfort his father. A cold sweat broke out across his forehead as he doubled over in his seat. “W-what’s happening?”

His father visibly composed himself, no longer slouching in his seat guiltily but sitting with a straight spine and tense shoulders. “I’m so sorry that you feel burdened with this, son. It’s not what your mother and I wanted for you. Not what anyone in the pack wanted for you,” his dad said seriously, rubbing a soothing hand on his back. “But you are the alpha. I don’t know why or how it happened--maybe it was God, or Fate or simply biology. All I do know is that it can’t be changed, none of it, and when you talk about refusing to be alpha the wolf part of me feels devastated, and it causes you pain to deny who you are.”

Kris groaned, his head spinning. He could feel his phone vibrating in his pocket. With shaking hands, he fumbled it out and clicked on the first of seven new text messages he’d received in the last thirty seconds. The frantic messages were all from members of the pack asking what was wrong and if he was okay.

“I don’t understand. How--”

“Your pack members can feel when you’re in pain. It affects all of us now because the safety of the leader is our priority. According to the tales your great-grandfather used to tell me long ago, you should be able to feel when we’re in pain or danger too.”

Kris shook his head in an attempt to knock some of the information into place. It didn’t work. He still didn’t understand anything, and he was frustrated.

His dad stood up and tossed some cash down to pay for the drink and tip the bartender. Carefully, he helped Kris from his seat and led him to the door. “You feel like garbage because you said you wanted to refuse to be alpha and the wolf part of you can’t accept that. Stop fighting it or it’ll keep hurting you, getting worse and worse each time. For now some cool air will make you feel better.”

The fresh night evening air was a miracle. Kris breathed it in deeply, sucking in the cool breeze as if he’d been starved for it. Instantly his body felt much better. His shoulders slumped in relief. He kicked at a pebble on the sidewalk as they made their way back towards home. As Kris stuffed his hands into his front pockets, the flash of a glowing blue circle on his wrist caught his eye. He frowned and kicked the pebble so hard that he tripped.

Sprawled out on the ground, fuming at his own clumsiness and looking so uncool in public, the situation didn’t improve at all as a fat raindrop hit him in the eye. Before he could blink, the rain was pouring down in sheets, drenching him to the bone. He closed his eyes and gently banged the back of his head against the ground.

A hand grasped his own and began lifting him up. Assuming it was his dad, Kris went with it. He opened his eyes and almost fell back down in shock. The smug face of a strange boy made Kris suspicious. Something about him seemed familiar.

Once again completely upright, Kris hurriedly tore his hand away. The stranger smirked, white blonde hair plastered to his forehead from the rain. “Now, that’s no way to thank someone. Poor manners.”

Kris spluttered indignantly but decided the best course of action would be to leave without lowering himself to arguing with snarky punks on the street.

“Hey, hold up!” The boy, tall but still shorter than Kris as almost everyone seemed to be, stepped in front of him and jabbed at finger at his chest. “Are you Kris?”

“Why am I so popular today?” Kris muttered to himself darkly. The rain began to slow to a drizzle. After sending a quick nod over his shoulder to convey to his dad that he had the situation under control and his father should go on ahead, he scowled but raised himself to his full height and leveled the rude boy with one of his particularly intimidating faces. “Yeah, that’s me. What’s it to you?”

The jerk didn’t even flinch under Kris’ efforts. Huh. Maybe all the mirror practice had worked and he’d gotten too good at making his eyebrows look friendly…

“I’m Sehun,” the boy said as if that explained anything. Kris stared blankly. “Oh Sehun.” Kris raised his eyebrows in confusion. That name meant literally nothing to him. “A friend of Baekhyun’s.”

“Oh! Listen, I do-”

“No, you listen,” Sehun interrupted with a snarl. “Tao might be quiet and snobby sometimes, but he’s pretty funny once in awhile, he shares his tea with me, and he's ridiculoulsy loyal. And he means a lot to Baekhyun-hyung which means he’s important to the group. He’s basically one of us now.”

“Wha-”

Sehun jabbed his finger into Kris’ chest again and spoke over him. Inexplicably, Kris felt like he’d been hit in the sternum with a block of ice. The autumn night was unseasonably cool, but even with the rain there was no way that it was that cold. The arctic sensation seemed to spread throughout his body as Sehun continued talking. His shirt grew heavier, turning to ice.

“He’s been avoiding us for two weeks and the hyungs are worried. I’m worried.” Sehun’s voice cracked on the last part and his eyes looked so fierce that even Kris felt some awe. “So I’m telling you right now that you need to give Tao back, okay?”

He was torn. Kris knew that he couldn’t keep Tao hidden forever, and if the situation was reversed and Luhan or Yixing had suddenly stopped showing their faces he would have been even more aggressive in getting them back. There was no way he could blame the kid for trying to find his friend. But would it be safe? Could he really allow Tao out with others when he was still so new to being a wolf-child? There was always the possibility that he’d shift in front of someone and that thought haunted Kris. However, Kris had been unable to stop the shift only early that very day and he’d had his whole life to learn control. It’d be hypocritical to make Tao stay away from everyone when Kris couldn’t handle himself.

There was only one thing to do. Kris’ teeth chattered together when he tried to reply. Clouds of his breath formed in front of his face. “I’ll take you to him.”

“Really? Just like that?”

“Yes, really. It’s nice to see that Tao has more people that care about him so much.”

Sehun’s entire demeanor changed instantly. He relaxed, a lazy smile coming to life on his lips as he stepped back.

“Oh Sehun, how many times have I told you not to run off on your own!” a deep voice boomed as footsteps rounded the corner. Even in the hazy, post rain glow from the streetlights, Kris’ vision was perfect and he had no trouble making out the first confused and then angry face of Park Chanyeol.

In a mere second the brat was up in Kris’ space, pushing Sehun behind him protectively and glaring at Kris like he was the monster parents warned their children about. “What the hell is going on here?”

Kris stepped back hastily. His left wrist itched uncomfortably, the blue circle faintly shimmering. His eyes flitted to Chanyeol’s wrist and sure enough an identical circle was lit up. Chanyeol followed his gaze and immediately covered his wrist when he realized Kris was looking at it.

A small growl echoed in the still night when their eyes met. He couldn’t help it. Something about the tall boy with the dark, blazing eyes and messy hair made Kris want to howl and mark and claim.

The ice on his shirt weighed heavily on him, pulling him down and chilling him to the bone, but the shivers that wracked his body had nothing to do with the cold. 

Chanyeol looked at the ice forming on Kris’ clothes and then cuffed Sehun on the back of the head. “What did you do?” he whispered harshly to the younger boy, but Kris’ ears allowed him to hear easily.

Sehun shrugged, a blank look on his face as if he didn’t care at all about anything. “I was telling him to give Tao back and let my anger leak out a bit. No biggie.”

Kris could practically feel Chanyeol rolling his eyes as he gaped at Sehun. “No biggie? You could have—and everyone else—so dangerous, you moron!”

Sehun shrugged again while Kris continued to freeze his ass off. He frowned down at the layer of glass-like coldness covering him. His kind had always had a naturally higher body temperature, so the cold didn’t bother them as much as normal people. There wasn’t a time in his life when he’d felt colder. He didn’t understand how it happened, or what Sehun had to do with it, but he wasn’t about to sit around getting hypothermia while the other two bickered.

“Uh…Chanyeol?” An electric current of heat rolled from his tongue straight to his core when the name poured off his lips. He fought against the foreign urge to walk forward and bury his face in Chanyeol’s neck, to inhale his scent and warmth.

The messy haired boy glanced up with wide eyes. He looked just as shocked as Kris felt, but Kris wasn’t about to let his own surprise be shown in front of the punk that ruined his life—and the boy was to blame, obviously, because none of this had started until he met Chanyeol all those years ago.

“W-what?”

Kris did his absolute best, using years of training in self-restraint and discipline, to not watch the slow drag of the boy’s tongue from between perfect white teeth and over lush, pink lips. He didn’t even notice as his own tongue darted out to trace the same path over his mouth.

Focus, Kris. Focus on what’s important here.

“Tao needs to stay with me for a few more days. He’s…sick, something very contagious and dangerous like,” Kris tried to think of a normal person illness that he’d heard of that would be believable, “uh, like chicken pox! Luhan, Yixing and I have already had it, so we’re okay, but he didn’t want to take the chance of spreading it to one of you guys. It can be dangerous to adults that haven't had it before.”

Chanyeol raised one eyebrow while his face did a weird thing that Kris really, really shouldn’t have found attractive. “He didn’t mention that to me or Baek on the phone.”

“Tao knew Baekhyun would insist on visiting him, so he kept it a secret.” Chanyeol still looked very suspicious but Sehun was nodding along like it was a reasonable explanation. Kris took the chance and drove forward with his lie. “He’s almost better though! Only a few more days, by Saturday definitely, and he should be good as new.”

Chanyeol stared at Kris in a manner that could be compared to being raked over hot-coals. Despite the coating of ice turning Kris into a wolf-sicle, he felt as if his insides were burning up. A mysterious, small smile tugged at the boy’s lips before he nodded and stepped toward Kris. Kris squared his shoulders and told his feet to stay firmly planted even though he wanted to get far away from the tall boy. Chanyeol extended his hand and it took an embarrassingly long moment for Kris to understand what he wanted. Gulping, he slowly accepted the handshake.

As soon as their skin touched—Chanyeol feeling impossibly hot in Kris’ palm--the blue circles on their wrists lit up like neon signs, brighter than the full harvest moon. The ice on Kris’ clothes melted in the span of a second. The cloth dried just as quick until he was cluelessly gazing at his shirt that felt like it’d just come out of the dryer. What the hell? His own heartbeat sped up until it was evenly matched with the other boy’s too quick patter.

Frozen for a completely different reason now, Kris couldn’t tear his eyes away from Chanyeol’s. Chanyeol’s deep voice reverberated all the way to the marrow of Kris’ bones when he spoke, punctuating his words with a shake of their clasped hands. “Fine, Kris. I suppose I should thank you for taking care of Tao while he was unwell. That was very…kind of you.” His eyes burned so brightly that Kris vaguely worried about spontaneous combustion. “You have until Friday. I sincerely hope you have his illness taken care of by then because we’ll leave with him whether you do or not.”

It sounded like a threat. From his words it was clear that Chanyeol hadn’t believed Kris as easily as Sehun had. He tried to push away the nagging feeling in the pit of his stomach. There was no way that Chanyeol had any idea what really happened to Tao. There was no way that Chanyeol knew what Kris was; he’d been a newborn baby the only time they’d met and Kris doubted Chanyeol’s parents would have openly discussed ever befriending wolf-people judging by their reaction when they found out.

Still, everything about Sehun and Chanyeol was strange. The ice and the warmth. He’d have to ask Luhan if he knew anything, but until then he sneered, hoping to hide the way his heart raced behind his hostility. He yanked his hand away and pointedly wiped it against his jeans as if to clean it off. As he turned on his heel and began walking away, he called over his shoulder. “Make sure to bathe first, yeah? You’ll drive the patrons away from the theater with that stench.”

In the distance he could hear Sehun muttering about how dumb Kris was, but Chanyeol was silent.

As soon as he got home, he ignored his parents' worried glances and went directly to his room. Stripping down and burrowing under his covers, he tried to pretend it wasn’t the whisper of Chanyeol’s voice that sung him to sleep.


	6. Six

“Zitao, why don’t you ever talk about Baekhyun’s friends?”

The younger wolf suddenly became very interested in the gold rings glittering on his fingers. “Ah, well, they’re all pretty boring most of the time. There’s not much to say.”

Kris shared a look with Luhan over Tao’s head. They’d both heard the stutter in his heartbeat. It felt like everything was weighing down on Kris these days as he sank his weary body onto the couch beside the blonde. Between the realization that he was the alpha, his apparently inescapable connection to Chanyeol, and now Tao hiding things from him, Kris felt more exhausted than he had in his entire life.

“I think there’s a lot that you aren’t saying, actually.” He leaned forward and placed his elbows on his knees, lacing his hands under his chin. “You once told me that you’d describe them as a pack. Now that you know what a pack really is, would you still use that word?”

Zitao nodded hesitantly, still not looking up from where he was fiddling with his hands. “W-why are you asking about them?”

“That should be obvious, pup,” Yixing replied as he ruffled Tao’s hair. Tao glared half-heartedly and immediately tried to straighten his bangs. The tension in the air cleared enough for Kris to breathe a bit easier, and he sent a thankful smile to his friend. Yixing’s dimple appeared for a moment before he curled an arm around Tao’s shoulders and explained. “You’re one of us now, a part of our family. It makes all of us nervous to let you hang around with people that we don’t know. How can we protect you when you’re away?”

“I don’t need protection from them! They’d never hurt me!” Zitao replied earnestly. He turned to Kris with wide, imploring eyes. “They wouldn’t hurt me, hyung.”

His heartbeat was completely steady as he spoke. He believed whole-heartedly that he was safe with them. Kris narrowed his eyes. “Even if they find out what you are? That you aren’t human anymore?”

Zitao rolled his eyes and laughed into his hand. “That wouldn’t surprise them at all.” His eyes became huge and round, his mouth dropping open in shock as he realized what he’d said. Kris jumped on the slip like a starving beast happening upon easy prey.

“What does that mean?”

Zitao shook his head and held up his hands, stuttering excuses. Kris frowned and drew in a deep breath. He didn’t want to do it, but now was a good a time as any to see if his alpha-ness really worked. He let his eyes bleed darker until he was watching the room with the gaze of the wolf. He felt his teeth, sharp and pointed on his lips, and his blood pounding through his veins. Kris felt something deep and intoxicating simmering under his skin. Focusing on it, he met Tao’s eyes and commanded him.

“Tell me what you’re hiding, Zitao. Tell me what you are trying so hard to keep secret about Byun Baekhyun and his friends.”

Luhan and Yixing stumbled back from the couch on staggering feet. They shuddered before falling to the floor and landing in their wolf skins. They whined low in their throats and shrank back underneath Kris’ gaze. Sweat broke out across Zitao’s skin, sliding down his forehead and neck as he visibly tried to keep the words locked inside. His teeth dug harshly into his bottom lip until Kris could smell the tang of blood in the air. An unexpected growl left his mouth as he pushed Tao back and towered over him. Whimpering, Zitao sank back into the cushions and bared his neck.

Instantly, Kris dropped his arms from the blonde’s shoulders and stumbled away. Chest heaving, he did his best to ignore the strange thrum of satisfaction he felt from Zitao, Luhan, and Yixing’s show of submission. The power thrumming through him seemed to pulse even more wickedly. Kris felt nauseous.

“They’re no-” Zitao hissed as the words forcibly left him. “They’re not human. Shit!” He dabbed at his bloody lip. “They’re different. We are different.”

“Guys, guys… I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for that to happen.” Kris sank to the floor and tried to stop the way the room was spinning. Ashamed, he whispered, “I’m so sorry, Zitao.”

He hated being able to control them. Having that kind of power over other people was just wrong. Bile rose in his throat.

A soft hand tentatively rested on his shoulder. “It can’t be helped, Kris. It’s who you are.”

“I don’t blame you, hyung.” Zitao settled himself between Kris and Luhan on the floor, burrowing close. “I should have told you before, but I was scared. You are my pack now, but they are my family too. I just don’t want anyone to get hurt.”

Yixing leaned his head on Kris’ other shoulder. “Why would anyone get hurt?”

“Because,” the blonde tugged on his dangling earring nervously, “because our kind and your kind don’t get along.”

Kris, still feeling light-headed and weak, lifted up his head and turned to Tao. They didn’t get along? Kris hadn’t thought his pack were the only special people on the planet, but his parents had never been very forthcoming with information on anyone else. As far as he knew, wolf-people were the only superhuman beings around. If there were more then why wouldn’t other super-humans get along with them? Shouldn’t they all band together? Be friends? Life would have been a whole lot less lonely when he was growing up if there had been other people he could have been his true self around.

“It’ll be easier to show you,” Zitao answered the unspoken question quietly. He tugged the sleeve of his shirt to reveal the smooth expanse of his forearm that Kris had seen more than once. But as he watched, the familiar tan skin shimmered for a second and slowly the golden outline of an hour glass appeared. Luhan gasped, but Kris could only frown quizzically.

“What-”

“Watch,” Zitao interrupted as he picked a pen from the coffee table and stood. He held the pen up near his face and let it drop. It began to fall for a second and then it simply stopped in mid-air. The clock stopped ticking on the wall. The noise from the television three floors up in Changmin’s room stopped.

“You’re a time controller?! This whole time you didn’t tell us?!” Luhan screeched, slapping ineffectually at Zitao’s arm. Zitao smiled sheepishly and waved his hand. The pen fell, the clock resumed ticking, and the television blared back to life. A news anchor was telling the story of another missing person a few towns over. “Then the others, are they…?” Luhan trailed off.

Zitao shook his head. “We can all do different things: ice, water, wind, teleportation, light and earth manipulation, and--”

Kris cringed, rubbing at his forehead tiredly. So the punk on the street, Oh Sehun, could control ice. Great. No wonder Kris had frozen so quickly. That was just what he needed in his already over-complicated life. Annoying brats with supernatural abilities. It seemed that the more answers Kris got, the more he wanted to hide himself in the forest hundreds of miles away. He briefly imagined shifting to his wolf skin and living out the rest of his life in the peaceful shade and silence of the woods. It sounded like heaven.

Heaving a sigh as he stood, he tried his best to appear like he wasn’t seriously contemplating running away. They needed him after all. An alpha only comes when needed, and although Kris didn’t want the responsibility, there was no way that he’d abandon his pack to the danger that lurked unknown.

“Zitao, I really am sorry about forcing you to talk; I didn’t know it would happen like that.” Kris ruffled Zitao’s hair affectionately, incredibly pleased by the way the younger wolf pushed into the touch forgivingly. “But I am glad that you told us. They’ll be here to take you back in a couple of days, and I don’t like letting you go where we can’t protect you, but I—well, if you trust them, then I will trust them too.”

“Aw, you’re being so cute today! You’re such a softie,” Luhan teased as he threw his arms around them and squeezed. “Group hug!”

*****

The air hung more heavily upon Kris’ shoulders as he sat behind the snack counter and refilled the empty candy slots from the afternoon rush. The bag of sour swirls fell to the floor for the second time. Luhan laughed and nudged his side with an elbow.

“Relax. It’ll be fine.”

Kris rolled his eyes and tried his best not to say any of the snarky things that were building up on his tongue. He felt anxious and jittery. His skin felt too tight for his bones, and he could almost hear the wolf rumbling in his ears.

“There’s nothing to worry about, stupid,” Yunho snickered from where he was emptying the coins from the arcade machines. Changmin nodded in agreement, already unlocking the next machine. “They’re not going to start anything in the middle of a movie theater.”

“Besides,” Henry added, running the carpet cleaner over the deep red floor while Amber and Jinki swept up the tile in front of the counter, “if they do try to start something, there’s no way that our precious little puppy will let them hurt us.”

Zitao scoffed and threw a handful of popcorn at Henry, earning himself several glares in the process. Jongdae laughed loudly and stole Amber’s dust pan while she wasn’t looking. Yixing exited the women’s restroom with pink cheeks and cleaning supplies.

“What’s that look for?” Jinki asked.

Yixing blushed darker and mumbled, “Somebody wrote some very colorful and descriptive poetry about my ass and the things they’d like to do to it on the wall in there.”

Jongdae cackled again. Momentarily distracted by the antics of his pack, Kris almost missed the sudden scent in the air. His nose lifted to sniff, the pounding of his heart already picking up pace, and in the next second he was tossing the bag of liquid butter for the popcorn machine in surprise.

“Woah, that worked out way better than I planned,” the cause of Kris’ most recent disaster said with a smirk. He was tall and lean with dark hair and full lips, seeming arrogant and playful at once. He had also just appeared in front of Kris out of thin air.

“Jongin-ah!” Zitao cheered as he jumped over the snack counter and pulled the guy into a hug. Kris was really angry because of the butter dripping down the side of his face and under the collar of his shirt. His anger was quelled slightly by the way the guy hugged Zitao back with just as much enthusiasm and genuine happiness.

Still, Kris was mad.

He cleared his throat and gave Zitao a pointed look.

“Oh! Right, right. Hyung, this is Jongin.” He smiled brightly and pointed toward Kris. “Jongin, this is Kris-hyung.”

Jongin tilted his head and tapped his chin thoughtfully. “Hmm… Chanyeol-hyung was right. You really do look like a constipated bird.” Kris spluttered indignantly and the brat laughed. “Sehun was right too! You’re fun to pick on.”

Before Kris could offer a scathing retort--which he definitely would have done--the front doors were pushed open and his breath was stolen from his lungs.

There were a few unfamiliar faces, but they all smelled faintly familiar. Zitao had often showed up covered in their scent before Kris had bitten him, but he’d never been able to put faces with the smells. He realized now, far too late for his sanity, that the scent that had been driving him crazy since the start of the school year was Chanyeol’s clinging on to Zitao and Baekhyun’s clothes whenever they came to hangout.

Baekhyun’s face lit up like a Christmas tree as soon as he saw Zitao. Jongin, still half wrapped around Zitao, blinked and then they went from standing beside Kris behind the counter to clear across the room in front of the newcomers. Zitao disentangled himself in time to catch Baekhyun and be pulled down into a kiss that had even Kris blushing.

The sound of snickering made Kris glance up and he was unhappy to see Sehun laughing at him snottily. He heard Luhan made a strange noise of interest, but he was unable to investigate because Chanyeol had begun walking toward him.

His hands were in his front pockets, shoulders back, head high, snapback in place. The dark red of his sleeveless t-shirt stood out against the pale smoothness of his arms. Kris felt the inexplicable urge to cover all of that exposed skin with his mouth until Chanyeol was flushed the same color as his shirt. Despite the cool temperatures outside, Chanyeol didn’t seem uncomfortable at all, especially in comparison to the man with a knitted hat, gloves, scarf, and a fluffy coat.

“My blood runs hotter than most, and Joonmyun-hyung is colder than most,” that deep voice washed over Kris as Chanyeol replied to the question that Kris hadn’t realized he’d asked out loud. He heard Jongdae mutter, ‘Smooth, Kris.’ Embarrassed, he frowned and refused to acknowledge the way Chanyeol leaned forward, elbows placed on the glass separating them.

A minute passed where Chanyeol stared at Kris and Kris stared at anything but Chanyeol while everyone else was in the background introducing themselves. A long arm reached past Kris, hot skin searing him even through his own sleeve as the boy grabbed a lollipop. Yeah, he definitely ran hot. Sitting back and smugly unwrapping the sucker like a proud little shit, Chanyeol smirked. Kris hated that he couldn’t take his eyes off the way the other boy’s tongue licked flat over the top of the lollipop harshly before circling the candy with dragging pressure. Popping the whole thing in his mouth and pushing it to his cheek, Chanyeol broke the spell by speaking. “So Zitao is no longer sick?”

Kris narrowed his eyes in suspicion, feeling unsettled and hot from Chanyeol’s proximity.

“It turns out that it’s permanent. Something that he’ll need to live with for the rest of his life.”

Chanyeol frowned and Kris felt a small amount of triumph for having caused it. “So he’ll need you for the rest of his life. Is that what you’re saying?” He sounded angry.

“Hyung, don’t be mad. They saved my life,” Zitao said quietly as he appeared from behind Chanyeol with his arm firmly wrapped around Baekhyun’s shoulders. Baekhyun looked to be caught between the need to glare at Kris for daring to keep Tao away from him for so long, and smiling gratefully because Kris had kept Tao alive. Kris nodded back in understanding.

Chanyeol stood up to his full height and let the sucker slip from his lips, leaving them shiny and slick. For a split second, Kris could have sworn that he saw his eyes blaze with fire. Clenching his fists by his side, Chanyeol spoke in low, dangerous tones. “You shouldn’t have been in that situation in the first place, Zitao. If they were any good, any kind of pack at all, they would have protected you before it became a matter of life and death. Before the only choice you had was to die or be turned.” He spit the word out like it was a disease that he was liable to catch just by speaking it.

Kris had the sudden memory of Mrs. Park’s hateful words as she stormed out of their lives with the baby and Mr. Park all those years ago. He recalled the pain on his parents’ faces. The miserable slump of their shoulders. Having to move from their home, from the freedom of the forest because of the unfounded hate the Parks had harbored. 

Filled with rage, Kris felt the shift bubbling unstoppably to the surface. Luhan and Yixing rushed over to stand on either side of him. Their calming presence made him more rational. After a few deep breaths he was able to push the shift away.

“Maybe it’s time for you guys to leave for now,” Yunho began from near the doors. “It was nice to meet you, but--”

“Look at him, Zitao! He’s a savage beast that can barely control himself. He—all of them—they’re dangerous!” Chanyeol’s voice echoed around the quiet theater.

“Then I am too, hyung,” Zitao whispered, stepping away from Baekhyun and taking a stand beside Yixing. “Just leave me alone if I’m such a monster now.”

Chanyeol’s face closed down, his anger rushing out of him as he deflated into a look of pure defeat. He reached out. “No. No, that’s not wha--”

“These people saved my life, hyung. They befriended an awkward guy that didn’t even know how to introduce himself. They invited me to hangout with them while you guys were busy, and they became just as important as you are. When I was on the brink of death from a freak accident, they exposed their biggest and most closely guarded secret in order to save me.” Zitao’s voice shook, tears shining in his eyes. As he spoke the movie in theater three must have ended because people had begun to filter out. He waved his hand and sniffed, and the people froze mid-step. Kris blinked, still not used to seeing time stop.

“They are a part of my family now, Chanyeol-hyung, and I don’t want to lose you or anyone else because of that, but I won’t let you talk about them like that. It’s your choice.”

Baekhyun stepped forward, pushing Chanyeol out of the way. “If you go, then I’m going with you.” Zitao smiled at him fondly, and Kris tried to imagine how they were going to incorporate Baekhyun into the pack. He could just tell that Baekhyun and Jongdae would become a terrible duo of pranks and irritation.

“Baek… It’s not.” Chanyeol sighed, looking torn. “You heard the same stories that I did. You know what my parents said about their kind.”

Baekhyun smiled gently and patted Chanyeol on the back. “The past is in the past. Whatever happened, it happened hundreds of years ago. We are not doomed to the tragedies of our ancestors. Please, let’s just try to get along.”

The whole room waited in silence as Chanyeol stared down at the scuffed toes of his shoes. Kris felt so many conflicting emotions. He wanted everyone to get along for Tao’s sake at least. He wanted to get to know other people that weren’t human and were forced to blend into a human world. He wanted to catch Chanyeol’s wandering tongue between his own lips, to kiss the purple coloring from the lollipop from his mouth. He also wanted to violently tear the parts of himself that craved Chanyeol out. He hated the way he felt. He was only attracted because of the stupid bond. If it wasn’t for that, there was no way Kris would want the jerk that was Park Chanyeol.

A large hand was shoved under Kris’ face. He glared at it in distaste, scrunching his nose up and everything. Luhan elbowed him, whispering to behave.

“I’ll try if you will,” Chanyeol challenged. Kris scoffed but Zitao was staring at him pleadingly.

“Fine,” he hissed. He pushed his hand out to shake Chanyeol’s but was met with only air. Chanyeol wiped some of the butter sticking to Kris’ face away with the back of his hand. Glaring, Kris slapped the hand away, and Chanyeol caught his wrist in a burning grasp. An electric tingle ran through Kris’ body and the mark on his wrist lit up brighter than ever before. Chanyeol ran his thumb over it hesitantly, his mouth dropped open in surprise and dismay.

“No…” he muttered in disbelief. When he looked up, his gaze held as much fear as Kris felt all the way to his bones.


	7. Seven

Despite the constant uneasiness nagging at Kris like an angry mosquito bite, months passed by faster than time had ever moved before. Curious, he’d asked Tao if he had anything to do with it, but the young wolf had only chuckled and shoved him so that he lost the video game they’d been playing. The cool autumn air and sporadic rain showers had long since iced over into bitterly cold days.

On top of going to school, working at the theater, and mentoring Tao, Kris also had long study sessions with Luhan wherein they read every story and book in the pack’s collective library. They couldn’t be quite sure the information was accurate unless he attempted it himself (which he was unwilling to do after the one time he had tried to command Tao), but he wanted to know everything about being an alpha so he could protect everyone. Also, even though he’d only admitted it to Luhan after hours of pestering, he wanted to know what could have happened to make the Parks hate wolf-people so much. He’d never heard even a hint of any feud with other kinds, but Baekhyun had definitely mentioned something occurring hundreds of years ago.

Sighing in frustration, Kris pushed his sweat dampened hair off his face and shoved the dust covered pages away from him. The book skidded across the table and landed with a muted thud on the carpeted floor. A tiny satisfied smile pulled at the corners of his mouth.

“Tsk, tsk. What would Luhan-hyung say about this book abuse?” Kyungsoo grinned, gently placing the paperback on the library table.

Kris rolled his eyes as the younger man made himself at home in the empty chair at Kris’ table. “He’d complain that I was defiling the sanctity of literature like as uncultured heathen, or something else equally as dumb that I’d completely ignore.”

“You’re only this mouthy because he’s not here.”

Kris shrugged, smiling in acknowledgement of the fact that Kyungsoo was right.

Concentrating for a moment, he was able to locate Luhan at the coffee shop three blocks away, cotton candy blue beside Yixing’s bright yellow and the pale orange and neon pink of Sehun and Minseok. It calmed him to check on everyone once in awhile; finding them on his mental map to make sure they were all safe and accounted for. Although he was sure that they could take care of themselves, the news had reported a steady increase of missing people, and Kris just felt better when he knew where the people he cared for were.

A warm cup of hot chocolate, plastic lid firmly closed and strange coffee house logo printed on the front, was placed carefully in front of him. He smiled in thanks, raising the cup to his lips and breathing in the heavenly scent. Kyungsoo crinkled his nose with a soft chuckle before busying himself with the textbook he’d pulled from his bag. After a long sip, wherein he burned his tongue and cursed, Kris turned back to his own torturous studies.

It’d been weird the first few times, but Kris had slowly gotten used to, if not always entirely comfortable with, the new additions to his circle of friends.

Kyungsoo—quiet, smart, strong willed—had burrowed his way into Kris’ daily routine at school. Joonmyun—perpetually chilly despite the many layers he wore, protective, kind—joined them on most days at the school library, but a lot of his time was taken up with tutoring and volunteering. Baekhyun had been hanging out with them since they met Tao at the beginning of the school year, so that had only gotten a lot more frequent. Kris had been right: Jongdae and Baekhyun were terrible alone, but when they put their heads together it was enough to drive everyone crazy with annoyance. Jongin—grumpy, always tired, constantly moving—literally popped in and out whenever he felt like it; sometimes, Kris whole-heartedly believed, just to see him jump in surprise. Minseok—gentle, strong, calm—only began to show up when Luhan and Yixing insisted on attaching themselves to Sehun.

If asked to explain it, Kris would be at a loss for words. His pack had always been on the edges of humanity. They could blend in with crowds and normal people. Go to school, work, and drive cars or play sports (as long as they held back) like everyone else. They could live as a human could, but they never felt safe or happy. Content, maybe, but not happy. He’d grown up thinking that the members of the pack were the only people he’d ever truly know. The only ones that he could completely be himself with. That was the way everyone in his pack had felt for so many years. That’s why the Parks had been so important to his parents.

The new additions had made him wary at first, especially since he’d been searching for a threat ever since he’d realized he was the alpha. It was almost scary how easily he’d gone from suspecting them to be villains, to caring about them the way he cared about his pack. The fact that he could sense them (orange for Sehun, pink for Minseok, gold for Baekhyun, forest green for Kyungsoo and mint green for Joonmyun) in the same way that he sensed his pack said a lot about how far their friendships had come. Maybe it was because they didn’t have to hide who they were; no longer holding back their full strength, reigning in their speed and reflexes, or masking their superior senses. Maybe it was because they all just seemed to fit together.

Even Chanyeol, who only grudgingly accompanied the other eleven of them to group dinners or bowling parties after a lot of needling from Baekhyun and Zitao, showed up on Kris’ map, although, he did try his best to ignore the brilliant red spark when he searched for the others. So far, Kris and Chanyeol hadn’t been forced to interact on these group outings thanks to a lot of interference and well timed conversations with Luhan and Yixing. Apart from the customary nod of welcome, where they both barely bowed their heads and refused to meet each other’s eyes, they hadn’t spoken at all since that day in the theater months earlier.

It was both a blessing and a curse.

Obviously, Chanyeol was an ass, and Kris didn’t really want to get to know him, but whenever they were in the same room together, the bond would instantly drag Kris’ attention to the other guy. His gaze would seek out Chanyeol against his will, eyes searching around the familiar faces and pulse racing in anticipation until the dark hair and wide mouth were found. There were words, words that he didn’t know and couldn’t force out, that piled on his tongue, shoving their way to the surface. Things he wanted to ask Chanyeol, things he wanted to know, things he wanted to explain about himself and his friends. His ears could pick Chanyeol’s heartbeat up in a sea of people. His nose could pin-point Chanyeol’s scent on the wind from across a mall.

A yearning that he’d never felt before made him want to lick up and down the exposed skin of Chanyeol’s neck, to mark up that flawless skin with kisses and teeth, laying his claim for all to see. Kris had dated a lot in high school, both guys and girls, and he’d never felt so passionately about them. They’d barely captured his interest, mostly only there because he’d been lonely and too kind to turn them down when they’d asked him out. But Chanyeol set Kris off. The way the low lights at the bowling alley had gleamed off his deep brown eyes. The soft curve of his cheeks and the playful slope of his lips as he’d smiled at something Joonmyun had said. The flames Kris was now positive he could see flickering in Chanyeol’s stare when he’d caught Kris staring. The low, molasses sweet voice that sunk into Kris’ skin and had his mouth running dry, palms sweaty, breathing shallow and nervous, even when Chanyeol was two lanes away, giving Jongdae lessons on how to properly roll a bowling ball.

A bright flash of light brought Kris out of his traitorous thoughts. Blinking away the spots dancing in his vision, he tried to glare at Jongin who was doubled over and laughing at his phone.

“You’re face!” He gasped, dragging in a lungful of air and wiping happy tears from his eyes. “Oh my god, that was a great face! I’m so glad I caught it!”

He turned the phone, and Kris, with superior speed finally working in his favor, snatched the object from Jongin’s hands. His own face stared back at him, brows furrowed in the way that made him look upset even when he wasn’t, eyes unfocused and bottom lip tugged between his teeth. The horribly unflattering picture on the screen made him angry. Before he could delete it, Jongin was beside him and stealing the phone back, popping behind Kyungsoo and smirking triumphantly. His fingers tapped over the screen for a second and then he popped back to Kris’ side and handed him the phone again.

“Delete it if you want, but I already sent it to Chanyeol-hyung. He’s going to set it as his background.”

As Jongin stood there, Kris tried to keep himself under control. He was mad about the stupid picture but he also felt weird. He could smell Chanyeol all over Jongin.

That wasn’t unusual; it didn’t mean anything, Kris tried to convince himself. And even if it was something, Kris didn’t have any reason to care. He wasn’t actually interested in Chanyeol.

Unfortunately, on the few occasions when all twelve of them were together, Kris hadn’t missed the easy slide of Chanyeol’s arm around Jongin’s shoulders, or the effortless shift of Jongin tucking himself into Chanyeol’s side.

“I-I need to go,” he muttered as he hastily stood. The room felt too hot. The bookshelves lining the walls and surrounding the table felt too confining. Jongin and Kyungsoo staring at him felt too overwhelming. Chanyeol’s scent wafting off Jongin was too much. Just too much.

He ran. The librarian, a guy only a little older than himself with black hair and feline eyes, paused while scanning a book for a student. He took one look at Kris’ ghostly pale face and sweat dampened hair and rushed over, pulling Kris gently by the arm toward the exit. He seemed vaguely familiar.

“Hey, are you alright? You don’t look very good.” The guy paused and pulled out his phone. “Should I call Yunho for you?”

Kris lifted his head, pushing his hair off his face. “Uh…”

“I’m Jaejoong, Yunho’s friend.” A light blush colored the man’s face, his heart thudded nervously in his chest. It was so loud. Everything seemed too loud. Kris just wanted to get away. “He introduced me to everyone at the bowling thing a few weeks ago?” 

Kris couldn’t remember that. He thought the guy seemed familiar but he couldn’t remember specifically meeting him. Had he really been so distracted by Chanyeol that night that he’d completely missed Yunho finally brining someone to meet the pack? Now that he thought about it, was that why Changmin had been acting so bitchy lately?

“Uh, right. Right. Sorry, I’ve been feeling pretty out of it recently. I’m Kris.” He shook Jaejoong’s hand and tried not to squeeze too tightly. The phone in his jacket pocket buzzed repeatedly. So loud. He didn’t have the time or energy to respond to the pack worrying about the pain he was in. He couldn’t even explain it to himself. His eardrums felt close to bursting. “I’m really sorry, but I need to go. You should come around again sometime soon, though.”

Walking backward toward the door to the stairs leading out of the building, Kris waved and watched Jaejoong nod. “I hope you feel better soon, man.”

Once outside, Kris tore his jacket off, letting the icy wind cut through him. He still felt close to burning up. The snowflakes hissed as they touched his skin, turning to steam and disappearing. Glancing around to make sure nobody was watching, Kris ran only slightly faster than a human could just in case, until he was safely behind the building furthest away from the main part of campus. Behind the building was bordered with a small outcrop of trees. It wasn’t exactly a forest, only marginally bigger than a neighborhood park, but it was enough space for him to shift.

His pants were discarded, barely saved from being torn apart as he sank to his paws and buried his nose in the snow. It was cold and sharp, but the scent of Chanyeol still plagued him. He bit back a howl, knowing with the more human part of his brain that he was too close to campus for that, and growled instead at a stray squirrel that darted up a tree in the distance. The wind shifted, carrying the musky rodent smell to his nose. He sniffed, feeling a foreign urge begin to build in his chest.

His feet moved without his permission, bounding gracefully over the snow and springing up for his jaws to snap at the branch the squirrel was on. The branch broke, and the squirrel fell to the snow, dead leaves and splinters of the branch marring the pristine whiteness around it. Kris prowled close, predatory and deadly until he had the animal trapped between his paws and under his snout.

Every instinct in him screamed to kill it. To bite it’s neck and shake until it stopped moving, and then to take it to Chanyeol. To give it to his mate. To prove that he could provide for him. To prove that he was a better choice than Jongin.

Like a freight train, the thought crashed through Kris and knocked him flat on the ground. His skin rippled until he was human again, shivering and scared in the middle of the trees. He remembered Luhan joking with him all those months ago about wolf-ish urges. He remembered finding the thought of killing anything repulsive. Kris was scared that he no longer thought that way. He was terrified that as a wolf he’d wanted nothing more than to sink his teeth into flesh and then gift his mate with the corpse as some sort of show of strength.

But what scared Kris the most was that he no longer fought calling Chanyeol his mate in his mind.

 

“I didn’t know you had a pet.”

Kris jumped, quite literally and completely unalpha-like, at the unexpected voice. He’d been alone on the roof of the building the pack lived in, putting a few extra nuts into the food dish and making sure there was enough bedding in the little cubby shelter he’d built. He didn’t turn around, instead focusing on making sure the squirrel was comfortable in his new home. “He got hurt because of me. I figured that I should take care of him.”

“He got hurt because of you, or you hurt him?” The deep voice moved closer, so close that Kris could feel the speaker’s warmth a little to his left. He still couldn’t look.

“How’d you get up here? I didn’t hear anything,” he replied, changing the subject none too subtly. He laughed awkwardly, “Did you fly or something?”

A long silence stretched after that. When he didn’t get an answer, he slowly turned around and met Chanyeol’s calculating stare. The other man had his head tilted slightly down, pouting out his bottom lip and squinting his eyes in that way that made Kris want to fondly touch his hair.

“I thought they’d have told you by now,” he muttered suspiciously. “No more secrets between any of us these days.”

“Told me what?” Kris frowned and tugged at the edge of his jacket. Normally winter didn’t really bother him, but his body was acting oddly lately. The cold was harsh even to his wolf-warmed blood. Chanyeol watched him shivering for a minute before sighing and forcing Kris to sit down beside him on a wooden bench Kris’ grandfather had made years ago.

Kris instantly felt warmer, but when Chanyeol removed Kris’ glove and wrapped their hands together, he was flooded with heat. His whole body seemed to raise in temperature, a steady boil beginning in his stomach and spreading throughout.

“You’re so warm.”

Chanyeol snorted. His reply was sarcastic, but it lacked venom. “And you’re so smart.”

They sat together, Kris trying his best not to count each of Chanyeol’s breathes and getting lost in the strange beat of his too fast heart, carefully sneaking glances at those ears which he suddenly couldn’t stop thinking about nibbling on. Pulling the lobes between his teeth gently and sucking kisses into the soft skin behind them. Rubbing his nose in Chanyeol’s hair, squeezing him close to his chest until he was soaked in Chanyeol’s scent and Chanyeol was soaked in his.

“You think pretty loudly.” The brat turned to him with a half smirk, his dark eyes dancing with flames.

Kris felt his cheeks heat up and prayed it was too dark to see the red staining his face.  
He huffed and turned his face away to look at the sky. “Why are you here?”

“Ah, you don’t like teasing. I should probably try to remember that, right? It’ll make things easier for us.”

“I don’t care if friends tease me. That’s what they’re supposed to do.”

Chanyeol wrinkled his nose. “But we’re not going to be friends, Kris.”

Confused, Kris pulled his hand out of Chanyeol’s grasp. “Then I’ll ask you again, why are you here?” The cold invaded the second their skin stopped touching, and a wicked shiver curled down his spine. “If you don’t want to try to get along, th-”

His words cut off when Chanyeol stood and faced him. Looking directly into someone else’s eyes, especially this specific person’s, was a new experience for Kris. He liked the fact that he could look straight ahead, not down, and he could lean forward just a bit to-

That train of thought was dangerous.

“You really do think too loudly. You’re thoughts are painted across your face for everyone to see,” Chanyeol hummed quietly, placing his hand slowly, hesitantly, on the side of Kris’ neck and stepping closer so they were breathing each other’s air. He wet his lips, pink tongue peeking out, and then his mouth was on Kris’.

Kris’ lips responded before his brain did. His hands, uncertain at his sides, eased themselves into place on Chanyeol’s hips. Chanyeol placed the hand that wasn’t on Kris’ neck on his bicep. They were so close, not quite touching except their hands and lips, and Kris felt exhilarated. His mouth was on fire, but it wasn’t painful. It was like the tingling sensation after using mouthwash. Chanyeol was like a furnace pumping heating into Kris, pumping life into him. It wasn’t a fast kiss, or a skilled one, or a deep, messy one. Honestly, it was relatively chaste even though Kris’ entire body thrummed with the need to make it more. His lips molded perfectly to Chanyeol’s, slitting together with gentle but firm pressure and so much heat.

Chanyeol stepped back first, breathing slightly heavier. Kris felt ridiculously proud of the confused but pleased expression on Chanyeol’s face. Wiping a hand over his eyes, Chanyeol blinked and puffed out his cheeks before settling on a smirk. “Don’t look too smug over there. I only did it because you’ve been devouring me with your eyes since we met.”

Embarrassed again, Kris opened his mouth to protest but decided against it. Did that mean Chanyeol had been messing around? Trying to humiliate Kris? He didn’t want to keep fighting like this. He shoulders sagged in defeat, a bone weary tiredness dragging him down. It was all just a game to Chanyeol, anyway. He’d probably done it just to laugh about the look on Kris’ face with Jongin later.

“Look, it’s getting late and I have an early class tomorrow. Just say whatever it is you came here to say and leave.”

Kris thought Chanyeol might have looked hurt by his tone for a second, but it was probably wishful thinking. Chanyeol scowled and took something from his back pocket and shoved it at Kris. It was the book he’d been reading in the library earlier.

“Kyungsoo said you left it, and he thought you might have been sick. He said nobody could get a hold of you since then so I decided to check up on you.” Kris felt a brief pang of guilt. He should have told everyone he was fine. He shouldn’t have pushed Chanyeol away. Chanyeol rolled his eyes and walked even further. “I see that you’re feeling just as asshole-ish as usual though, so I’ll be going now.”

Before Kris could reply, brilliant multi-colored flames sprouted in the form of wings from Chanyeol’s back. He flapped them once and they turned jet black. He ran to the edge of the roof and leapt, taking off with flaps of his wings and blending into the night.

Long after Kris lost sight of him, he searched sky. If answers were there, he didn’t find them.


	8. Eight

Kris stared at his cell phone apprehensively. His stomach twisted itself in knots as he hesitated over the send button. It was just a stupid greeting. A simple, good morning. It was something that normal people did with friends, and it wasn’t like it could be used to blackmail him in the future or anything. What was the worst that could possibly happen from trying to be friendly?

Chanyeol could ignore him. That would be pretty terrible. Way too terrible to take the risk, really.

Exhausted from a sleepless night filled with guiltily flopping around in his bed for hours, Kris yawned. As he moved to cover his mouth, his finger slipped and by the time he glanced back at his phone the message had already been sent.

“Damn it,” he muttered angrily, tossing his phone as far away from him as he could without breaking anything.

The scent of waffles and maple syrup drifted to him from the open door of his bedroom, and he was completely unsurprised to see Luhan staring at him with a creepy smile and a plate of breakfast in his hands. “Looks like someone had a rough night,” he teased, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. “You absolutely reek of Chanyeol. Being the amazing hyung that I am, I brought you food to replenish all the energy you used up last night.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Kris resolutely ignored the rush of satisfaction that he felt from hearing that he smelled like Chanyeol. Scenting was important, something that he’d grown up with his whole life in the pack. There was no way that Chanyeol had done it on purpose, and so there was no point in letting it get to him.

Besides, it wasn’t Kris that wanted it to begin with. It was only the stupid bond and nothing more.

“Don’t even try to act like you weren’t with him last night, Kris. Even your grandmother can smell Chanyeol, and she’s all the way down on the ground floor.” He laughed at the color rising on Kris’ cheeks. Luhan smiled softly, fond despite himself, as he handed over the food. “More importantly, I’m so glad you guys finally got together. Finally. Did he just leave?”

Kris’ shoulders slumped as he half-heartedly drowned his waffles in syrup. “Nothing happened, hyung. He stopped by for a second last night on the roof. I said something dumb because he’s a confusing jerk, and then he flew away.” Kris scowled to himself, forcefully shoving away all thoughts of the kiss. “Literally, he flew away. How did he even do that? Anyway, we’re definitely not together.”

His hyung’s smile fell away. “Wha-what do you mean? He wasn’t here all night?”

Luhan’s tone instantly had Kris on alert, adrenaline and protective instincts making him stand and pace the room, searching for invisible threats without a thought.

“Baekhyun texted me earlier to ask if we’d seen Chanyeol. The last time anyone heard from him was when he told Kyungsoo that he would check on you.” Luhan swallowed thickly, nerves and anxiety clouding the air around him and making his claws grow. “He,” Luhan hesitated, causing Kris’ eyes to flash, “he was supposed to meet Jongin at the dance studio last night, but he never showed up.”

Hearing Jongin’s name was too much. Kris’ control snapped and, in a split second, he was bounding out the door and down the stairs on four paws.

At the small foyer directly in front of the door leading outside, Kris’ father stood with Yixing and Amber. They were speaking, soft words that weren’t cutting through the dangerous haze of Kris’ thoughts at all. All he knew was that he needed to get out, he needed to find Chanyeol. And they were in the way.

Without hesitation, he growled, low and commanding deep in his throat, teeth flashing threateningly. His pack mates stared at him with wide, terrified eyes. Yixing was the only one of the three that didn’t even smell scared. The younger wolf simply bared his neck and landed carefully on his knees on the floor, averting his eyes. Amber and Kris’ father stank of acidic fear. He would fight them if he needed to. The last thing Kris ever wanted to do was hurt his family, but the human emotions that usually controlled him were overruled by the alpha power thrumming through his veins.

Yixing was speaking quietly to the others, the sides of his mouth barely moving with his words. Normally, it was as easy in wolf form as in human form to understand speech, but as Kris glared, none of the sounds falling on his ears made any sense. Momentarily distracted, he tilted his head to the side and tried to concentrate on the soothing consonants of Yixing’s words. Kris fought for control, clinging desperately to the knowledge that these people were family, and he never wanted to hurt them.

From the corner of his eye, he saw his father reach toward him, and Kris lunged.

Stop! Kris, you need to stop!

He froze in place, jaw stretched wide around his father’s forearm and sharp teeth on the cusp of breaking skin. His ears flicked in agitation, but the words hadn’t come from a sound anyone had made out loud. As the seconds passed, feeling like hours, the wolf conceded enough for the rational part of Kris to try to get his bearings again.

Good. That’s very good. Now let him go, okay? We’re pack, Kris. We’re safe.

As Luhan’s voice rang through his head again, Kris released his grip on his father with shame biting at his conscience. Stumbling away, he shifted to human and pulled at his hair in frustration, angry tears stinging at his eyes.

He’d almost attacked his family. He’d scared his own father and Amber. He had no idea how to control the alpha power begging for release beneath his skin. He couldn’t tell the difference between his real feelings and the ones caused by the bond. Chanyeol was missing, and even when he wasn’t missing, Kris couldn’t manage to get through one conversation without embarrassing himself, getting pissed off, or offending Chanyeol. And to top of the whole shitstorm that was his life, Luhan had apparently developed the ability to communicate telepathically.

Awesome.

“Don’t worry, hyung,” Yixing said gently as he wrapped his hoodie around Kris’ naked waist. “You didn’t ask for any of this, and we all understand that it’s hard to control. You’d never hurt us.”

Keeping with the theme of his terrible luck, Kris had vocalized his meltdown for the whole room (and everyone else in the house since they had supernatural hearing) to hear. Embarrassment now swelled within the shame and anger consuming him.

Yixing pulled him into his arms, full of warmth and exuding comfort in a way that only Yixing seemed to so effortlessly manage. After a few tense moments, Kris melted into the hug, already beginning to feel better as Luhan’s arms clung to him from behind.

“I should have told you, Kris. I’m sorry,” Luhan mumbled, his breath fanning across Kris’ back. “There’s so much I need to tell you about. I was reading a really old book that Minseok-hyung let me borrow, and then I had all these questions, and Baekhyun finally explained the stories he and Chanyeol heard when growing up, and it all—it all fits together. Everything finally makes sense.”

Kris sighed heavily. “It’s my fault. I haven’t been all that approachable lately, hyung.”

The air shifted as his father and Amber carefully joined in. He hated to feel their worry, the scent of their fear lingering like a terrible reminder. Kris whined, a low, injured puppy sound and his dad reached up to ruffle his hair in the way he’d done when Kris was little. Amber cooed, calling him a big baby. Her voice started off unsure but ended in the same teasing tone he’d always known. Soon everyone in the apartment building was standing in the tiny foyer in a pack hug around Kris.

A soft pop came from the other room which a quick sniff of the air revealed to be a haggard and tired Jongin and Kyungsoo. Kris met Kyungsoo’s wide eyed glance and was about to pull away to ask what was wrong, if they’d found Chanyeol, when the younger boy tugged Jongin forward roughly and burrowed themselves in the hug. A heartbeat later, the front door opened and the rest of the guys came tumbling in, fitting themselves seamlessly in the giant pack pile.

Something clicked inside of Kris. A piece of himself that had been jagged, tearing and stabbing at his mind, at his control. With all of them together, in one room and safe, Kris felt the tension bleed out of his shoulders for the first time in months. Maybe even years.

These people were his pack. His.

Zitao had been considered family before he’d ever been turned. Baekhyun had taken slightly longer to get used to, but Kris had easily accepted him as part of Tao. Jongin, Kyungsoo, Joonmyun, Minseok, and Sehun had been hanging around, slipping into pack life without Kris even realizing it. All those bowling nights, study sessions, dinners and lunches. The few movie outings that had been arranged and Luhan had dragged him to. These people had been working their way into his life, into his heart. He cared for them as much as he did for his own family or any other member of his pack.

A sharp sting on his wrist reminded him of why he’d freaked out in the first place.

Chanyeol.

Just thinking of the other boy made the wolf inside howl with longing and rage. Chanyeol was missing. From the pack, from Kris’ arms, but more importantly at the moment, actually, physically missing.

Kris took a deep breath and closed his eyes. There was no escaping the fact that his heart thundered faster, his blood ran hotter, and his breath came quicker just from thinking of Chanyeol. The phantom feel of fire hot lips pressed against his own caused a wave of want to crash over him. Chanyeol was frustratingly stubborn, clashed with Kris on almost everything, constantly challenged him, and could be pretty dumb about some things. But the fact remained that he was Kris’ mate, whether Kris wanted it or not, and there was no way to fight it.

Given a choice, Kris would not have picked Park Chanyeol, and if he could, he would disintegrate the bond between them. No matter how much he could have grown to like Chanyeol in any other setting, being forced together made Kris resent the other boy and any feelings Kris might have.

Regardless, as Kris stood in the center of everyone he loved and cared for, he resigned himself and came to accept his fate for the good of the pack. Fighting it only seemed to cause more harm than good.

Kris was the alpha. Park Chanyeol was his mate.

And his mate was missing.

With his eyes still closed, Kris tried to focus and find the brilliant red of Chanyeol. It took longer than it should have because something was wrong. Chanyeol’s normally vibrant shade of fiery scarlet had faded to an almost black shadow. Restraining himself to a calm voice was difficult, but Kris needed to keep a leash on himself. He couldn’t lose control again.

“Jongin, I need you to help me with something,” he spoke slowly, carefully, as he pulled out of Yixing and Luhan’s arms. The group separated around him, still touching with shoulder bumps or held hands, but parted enough for Kris to stand beside Jongin.

“Okay.” Jongin nodded toward the door leading into the other room and Kris followed, distantly surprised at Jongin’s easy acceptance. The grumpy boy had always made it his mission to make Kris frown. It was a pleasant surprise that he was cooperating. He faced Kris expectantly and held out his hand. “You need to tell me exactly where we’re going, or as close to it as possible, and we need to be touching.”

Kris raised an eyebrow as he reached out. “How did you know that’s what I wanted?”

“What else am I good for, hyung?” Jongin snorted. Kris was conflicted: on one hand, Jongin had called him hyung, but on the other hand, he didn’t like what Jongin was implying. On the other, other hand (hey, in wolf form, he totally had four paws to work with) he didn’t like how close Jongin and Chanyeol were. Were they more than friends?

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts—now was not the time to be worried about things like that—Kris tightened his grip on Jongin’s hand and looked him straight in the eye, putting every ounce of sincerity he possessed in his words. “You’re an annoying brat most of the time, I’m not going to lie, but… It’s not about what you can or can’t do, Jongin. You’re a part of the pack whether you can teleport or not. You are important.”

The younger boy’s mouth fell open in disbelief. A strange look blew across his face, like he was seeing Kris for the first time, before he broke out into a wide smile and playfully punched Kris in the arm.

“Tell me where we’re going already. I can’t wait to tell Chanyeol-hyung about what a sap you are.”

Kris rolled his eyes, but he was unable to feel upset about it. Seeing Chanyeol, making sure he was safe and sound, would be worth whatever humiliation Jongin had in store. He closed his eyes to double check the location and listed it off for the younger boy.

***** 

It was only once the twirling sensation had started in Kris’ stomach, causing his organs to lurch around in his chest, that he realized he was only wearing Yixing’s hoodie wrapped around his waist.


End file.
